Cornyn to Berkeley: I’m cutting you off!
posted at 3:30 pm on February 6, 2008 by Bryan
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Michelle has the update on the latest goings on regarding Berkeley’s insurgency against the Marines.
Texas Senator John Cornyn joins SC Senator Jim DeMint in proposing a cut off of all federal funds to Berkeley.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today announced his support for the Semper Fi Act, legislation introduced by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., that would send a strong message of disapproval to the City of Berkeley, Calif., for its recent decision to bar the U.S. Marine Corps from recruiting within city limits. The Semper Fi Act would rescind any earmark funding in they fiscal year 2008 spending package that would have gone to Berkeley or any entity in the city—a total of more than $2 million—and transfer those funds to the Marine Corps to be used to recruit new Marines.
“The Berkeley City Council insulted our troops and offended people across the country. If the U.S. Marines are not good enough for Berkeley, neither are taxpayer dollars Congress would have sent there this year. That city closed its doors on the same individuals taking bullets on the front lines while fighting for the safety and freedom of families in Berkeley and throughout America,” Sen. Cornyn said.
That makes two. Where are the rest of ‘em?
It’s a good start, but as I’ve said before it doesn’t go far enough. There’s a big university there that gets a load of federal funding. Cut it off. All of it. Whether it comes from Dept of Education or the Dept of Energy or NASA or wherever, nip it. The city and the university get loads of state funding. Start twisting the governator’s arm to cut that funding off too. Scorched federal and state funding earth should be the policy. If those hippies don’t want the USMC, then they shouldn’t get their precious federal dollars from any other stream either. There ought to be a price paid for rejecting and impeding the US military when it’s trying to recruit and we’re in the middle of a war.
If nothing else, by going for the most you give yourself a fallback position at which you can still achieve something worthwhile.
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I am not defending the city. I am defending the University, the Rad Lab, the Chem Lab, the Eng Lab, etc. UCB is not simply a liberal arts university.
bnelson44 on February 6, 2008 at 4:44 PM
Here’s a reference for you if you need one:
https://www.llnl.gov/llnl/missions/
Yea, UCB is part owner of LLNL. So before you guys start blasting with your shot guns, look down range.
bnelson44 on February 6, 2008 at 4:47 PM
What’s there to boycott? The only thing sent in and coming out is patchouli oil. Wait, come to think of it…Boycott is in order…
ColdBore76 on February 6, 2008 at 4:52 PM
Yeah, where is Mr. ‘I’ve always been about the military’ on this? Oh yeah, same place he was when Clinton was gutting the military. Same place when he decided that losing a few thousand American lives was better than trickling water in a terrorist’s nose for thirty seconds. On the wrong side.
McCain is a fraud and Berkeley is a disgrace.
pistolero on February 6, 2008 at 4:57 PM
So refreshing to at last see someone coming against Beijing, West Coast.
Liam on February 6, 2008 at 5:04 PM
Maybe the opposite approach should be taken. Transfer a Marine Division there-families and all.
scottm on February 6, 2008 at 5:13 PM
No. We can’t cut off existing funding that is already arranged.
However, we can stop any new funding. I could give a rats posterior about fed research dollars going to UCB because if it isn’t going to UCB it will go to some other university’s good Rad, Chem, or Engineering Labs. Let the researchers do their research elsewhere. UCB closes and Berkley becomes just another second rate city, droping off the map as a place to abuse the public trust in making these goofy political statements.
Lawrence on February 6, 2008 at 5:14 PM
Real Conversative action!
azcop on February 6, 2008 at 5:18 PM
Senator McCain,
Where is your Conservative leadership? Why arn’t you leading the charge to counter Berkley’s actions against our military? What happened to the military hero you claim to be.
DeMint would make a great VP. I see him taking the right side and leading the charge on a lot of the issues that matter to me.
Tim Pancoast on February 6, 2008 at 5:27 PM
The City Council backed down so you guys can stop frothing at the mouth right now. And I’m surprised one of HA’s main bloggers would post such over-the-top crap.
mram on February 6, 2008 at 5:30 PM
I would contact my congresscritters but with Fatboy Kennedy and Liveshot Kerry, I would be wasting my breath.
Mooseman on February 6, 2008 at 5:42 PM
Of course the City Council backed down. Libs that delusional always go as far as you let them. They represent such a minute part of out culture that they get away with a lot of extremism because no one takes their antics seriously. When they go too far, the majority remedies the situation and they immediately start probing for any space where they get attention again.
volsense on February 6, 2008 at 5:47 PM
As a UC Berkeley ‘02 engineering grad, I can tell you that a lot of the engineering department, some of the science departments like Molecular Cell Biology, and the excellent business and econ departments are heavily privately funded either by foundations or companies. For example, my major’s building was mostly built by a $70 million dollar donation from a private foundation. In fact those departments have to subsidize the hippie majors b/c the university gets a huge cut of all donations. A huge chunk of the money from federal funds goes to hippie majors like “
PeacePiece Studies”.The city of Berkeley is far more moonbatty than the University by far, and it’s the city that should be punished. Hell, we can’t even build a new athletic facility or upgrade our stadium or rebuild a park overrun by homeless on University land because the hippies in the city government fight them tooth and nail.
hkenshin on February 6, 2008 at 5:49 PM
Were you under the impression that this was actually the Tucker Carlson show?
see-dubya on February 6, 2008 at 5:51 PM
I agree with federal funding scorched earth, even if they didn’t diss the Marines. The really don’t see themselves as part of the rest of the country, so why should the rest of the country give them one red cent. On a side note, just wondering: what kind of raw material would come out of Berkeley? Is there anybody there the Marines would even want?
AUINSC on February 6, 2008 at 6:13 PM
Where’s Mr. Military John McCain in this fight? Why hasn’t he said a single word about it?
Oh, that’s right, he’s busy trying to win an election an slander anyone who criticizes him.
If McAmnesty would show some testicular fortitude and stand up on this issue, I might be more likely to support him in November.
Right now, he doesn’t have my vote.
If he takes Huckster as his running mate, he will never, ever have my vote.
bigred on February 6, 2008 at 6:27 PM
Yes. There’s a good education to be had there if you know where to look. And they attract a lot of bright young Californians and don’t ruin all of them.
see-dubya on February 6, 2008 at 6:27 PM
So where’s the California representatives taking a stand
against the city (?) of Berkley? Why does my Texas Senator
the Honorable John Cornyn have to carry the water for those
wusses? I wonder what the liberal bastion of California
would be like today had California been attacked on 9/11
instead of New York?? Had it been Texas, I think we would have seceded by now and fought the battle ourselves!!!
gary on February 6, 2008 at 6:30 PM
I’m opposed to pretty much everything Berkeley stands for. I was discussing this latest idiocy with a friend the other day and he suggested a good answer to their eviction notice might be arming the NoKo’s with better missiles. We both laughed but, deep inside, we also considered the possibilities.
I think a better solution would be to nuke them. A few hours later, the president could appear on national television to inform us that he thought they had weapons of mass destruction. When the rest of the world realizes that we have nuked ourselves they will almost certainly be easier to get along with for a very long time.
viluzion on February 6, 2008 at 6:33 PM
If I were John Cornyn, I would say this to Beserkeley before yanking their federal funding:
Gunny Highway: The Marines are looking for a few good men. Unfortunately, you ain’t it.
I had to figure a way tie this story into the best Marine movie ev-uh!!!
Gunny Highway: You can rob me. You can starve me and you can beat me and you can kill me. Just don’t bore me Beserkeley!
Planet Boulder on February 6, 2008 at 6:42 PM
I think that we need to use eminent domain and sieze Berkley and turn it into a military post. The dorms = barracks; cafeterias = mess halls; sports fields = rifle and pistol ranges; parking lots = motor stables. The possibilities are only limited by the imagination.
Former CPT, Armor
DAT60A3 on February 6, 2008 at 6:42 PM
Oooh, would commander in chief McCain tell Cornyn “F**k you! I know more about this than anyone in the room!” over this?
NTWR on February 6, 2008 at 6:42 PM
Because of our efforts. If not for Malkin, HotAir staff, and the blogs, you never would have heard about this, and nothing would have been done.
If you don’t like that, perhaps you could chain yourself to a recruiting office door.
fourstringfuror on February 6, 2008 at 7:02 PM
Screw ‘em. If they don’t like it, they can use their clout to shut up the Berkeley City Council. Take a stand. But they won’t, and they wouldn’t.
peski on February 6, 2008 at 7:10 PM
I’m willing to go along with the earmarks and federal dollars for the University, because I don’t think they deserve that money and it was done it secret, but I have to draw the line there unless someone can convince me that the citizens of Berkeley aren’t taxpayers too. Besides we’re getting a little TOO close to violating the whole idea behind having the First Amendment in the first place when we actively encourage Congress to punish Berkeley for exercising their right of free speech. Hey, if private citizens and businesses want to boycott Berzerkley, have at it, otherwise, “Congress shall make no law…”
eclark1849 on February 6, 2008 at 7:20 PM
“…cause it probably won’t stop there.”
eclark1849 on February 6, 2008 at 7:22 PM
Yea, UCB is part owner of LLNL. So before you guys start blasting with your shot guns, look down range.
Exactly. Yank the rope hard enough and the dog will bark somewhere. If the LLNL funding is threatened, you watch how fast the phone lines from Livermore light up trying to reach their contacts at Cal & the Berkeley City Council’s office!
‘nuf said about this, they backed down for now.
Biffstir on February 6, 2008 at 7:32 PM
Come on eclark1849, what Berkeley and Code Pink is doing to the Marine Corp recruiting office has nothing to do with “free speech”.
JonRoss on February 6, 2008 at 7:39 PM
The University and the City of Berkeley are two different entities. Note, for example, the Stadium-HPC controversy, in which the City has sued the University to prevent the upgrade of Memorial Stadium and the construction of a Student High Performance Center. The University itself is actually pretty conservative. Also note that the Berkeley College Republicans claim to be “one of the largest and most active student run organizations at UC Berkeley.”
aunursa on February 6, 2008 at 7:57 PM
I note also that the University has Army, Navy, and Air Force ROTC programs.
aunursa on February 6, 2008 at 8:01 PM
We put up with all the campus crap in the 60s’ and look at us now. Those same anti-military freaks are the press, the teachers, the professors, the parents of this generation of freaks. No respect for those who supply their freedom and their rights. It is time to teach protesters there are consequences for all actions in life. No free rides.
Wade on February 6, 2008 at 8:22 PM
I love it. It’s not much, but it’s a start.
Planning a business meeting there? I would hope most patriotic corporations will reconsider and move to a more “American” venue.
Zorro on February 6, 2008 at 10:29 PM
How about if they just “shock and awe” their asses.
Mallard T. Drake on February 7, 2008 at 12:32 AM
Don’t care. Like I said, let Cornyn stop the earmarks. They should do that anyway, especially considering they were slipped in without so much as debate. But trust me the last thing you want Congress to do is start mucking around with Free Speech laws. Especially when we have people like McCain and Hillary poised to be president. Let the private sector handle Berzerkley.
eclark1849 on February 7, 2008 at 12:35 AM
ALL federal funding to any part of the city of Berkley, and the Univiersity of California, should be cut off, for five years.
Clearly what the City of Berkley’s city council did, went way past First Amendment rights. Whether the city of Berkley like it or not, we’re a nation at war.
Our troops are in Iraq by congressional approval, under the 1973 War Powers Act, and Resolution thereof, to use military force against Iraq.
IMO, the city mayor, plus members of the “Peace and Justice” commission, and ALL council members could be charged under Article III, Section III of the U.S. Constitution, for aiding and abetting “Code Pink” in intentionally harassing our military.
byteshredder on February 7, 2008 at 1:03 AM
Don’t forget Berkeley mayor Tom Bates pled guilty to stealing the student newpaper, The Daily Cal, emptying the newstand into the recycling bin. Why did he steal and trash the student newpaper? Because the Daily Cal endorsed Shirley Dean, his opponent. Shirley Dean would at least come to speak to college republicans as registered democRat. Her moderate positions were a breath of fresh air ina city full of crazies.
Of course, I have my own personal experience in having what I have published stolen at Cal.
This is at the home of the free speech movement, right? Berkeley (city and university) is about intolerance of opposing viewpoints and the silencing of those who do not walk the Berkeley party line. The university and city have a long history of defiance of the laws, federal and state. The school is equally culpable as the city if any funds get cut off, which I wholeheartedly support in any event.
petit bourgeois on February 7, 2008 at 3:49 AM
A writer friend of mine, as anti-Bush and anti-American as they come, recently was awarded a $40,000 grant from the Nat’l Endowment.
His moral dilemma lasted, oh, four or five seconds before he accepted.
PattyJ on February 7, 2008 at 10:59 AM
I fail to see how withdrawing support is likened to “crushing power”. In fact, I challenge you to point out the Article in the Constitution that says the Federal Government should be funding ANY of the earmarks that were mentioned.
Oh, and your snide comment about the “Geneva convention” only serves to highlight your ignorance. The Geneva convention rules only apply to uniformed combatants. In past wars it was well known that non-uniformed combatants were considered spies and promptly executed… not given spiffy accommodations, good food and a copy of the Koran.
dominigan on February 7, 2008 at 12:49 PM
Just sent a thank you email to Sentor Cornyn. As a life long resident of Califorina I am at the point where we should remove all the decent people and let the moonbats celebrate, then while that is going on drop a couple of B-52’s worth of JDAM’s on them. Problem solved
limowilliam on February 7, 2008 at 1:36 PM
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