Be all you can be, SOMEWHERE ELSE!

The city of Berkeley, California is working to shut down a Marine Corps Recruitment Facility in their city.  Berkeley City Councilmember Betty Olds says of the Marines, “The Marines ought to have had the sense not to come here.”  This after the Berkeley City Council voted to have the Recruitment Center closed.

Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates is working to get the Marines out as soon as possible, even negotiating with the landlord of the building the Marines rent out of.  “I spoke with the landlord, who is a very nice friend of mine, and the Marines have a year and a half to go,” Bates said. “The situation there has disrupted the whole block.”  He says the Marines have to go because “We are against the war in Iraq.”

Those sentiments were seconded by a member of the City Council.  Former Marine Councilman Max Anderson is shocked at some of the negative feedback they are receiving about their decision, “People are trying to spin it that we're against the troops.”

This news has already hit Capitol Hill and Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) is demanding the government to retract all federal funding to the city.  “If the city can’t show respect for the Marines that have fought, bled and died for their freedom, Berkeley should not be receiving special taxpayer-funded handouts.”

Included in DeMint's proposal is the withdrawal of $975,000 for the University of California at Berkeley for the Matsui Center for Politics and Public Service, $750,000 for the Berkeley/Albana ferry service, $243,000 for the Chez Panisse Foundation for a school lunch initiative, and $87,000 for the Berkeley Unified School District nutrition education program.

DeMint stated, “They are not going to kick a federal office out of its rightful place there.”  He explained, “This is a slap in the face to all brave service men and women and their families”

California Senator Barbara Boxer (D) says DeMint’s comments are “plain wrong.”

The City Council is also pushing for a faster exit by offering Anti-War group Code Pink a six-month parking pass in front of the recruitment office along with a protest permit.  The Associated Press reports that if the Marines choose not to leave, the City Council would consider them as “uninvited and unwelcome guests.”

Olds says that the military’s function in their Recruitment Center is “giving jobs to people without other opportunities.”