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What Is In The Water In Berkeley?

By Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy on December 9, 2010 at 2:00 PM in ABC News, Bill Clinton, California, Crime, Current Affairs, Cyber Attacks, Dept. of Justice (Obama), Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, Sara Palin, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

My jaw literally dropped when I saw the following story about what is going on in Berkeley and a recent action there. The headline gives you a hint: “Alleged Leaker Bradley Manning: Hero To Berkeley?“. Of course, the headline refers to WikiLeaks. And the answer would be…

YES!!!! By a vote of 7-3, the Peace and Justice Commission of Berkeley passed a resolution claiming Manning should be freed, and is a hero. The resolution now goes to the City Council:

An Army private jailed for allegedly leaking sensitive military data is a hero and should be freed, according to a resolution under consideration by the Berkeley City Council.

The council is expected to vote Tuesday on whether to declare its support for Pfc. Bradley Manning, who’s suspected of providing WikiLeaks with classified military documents and a video depicting an Army helicopter attack in Baghdad in which 11 civilians were killed. [snip]

Oh, boy. But wait, it gets better:

“If he did what he’s accused of doing, he’s a patriot and should get a medal,” said Bob Meola, the Berkeley peace and justice commissioner who authored the resolution. “I think the war criminals should be the ones prosecuted, not the whistle-blowers.”

The proposed resolution originated from the same commission that declared the Marine Corps “unwanted intruders” in Berkeley in 2008. The council’s ensuing approval – and reversal – ignited some of the city’s most raucous protest in years and prompted more than 25,000 e-mails to City Hall.

Now that should tell you all you need to know. I don’t know about you, but when my back is against the wall, if I had to choose between one of these yahoos and a Marine, I’d take a Marine any day of the week. But that’s just me.

Okay, now I know that there can be times when the release of sensitive information, whistle blowing, has resulted in positive changes. I get that. But to declare this soldier who stole classified information, information that is putting lives at stake (according to our Secretary of State, the director of the DOJ, and former President Clinton), does not a hero make. IMHO, that is.

So, how about those “no” votes? This is what one of them had to say:

[snip] Commissioner Thyme Siegel was one of the three “no” votes.

“We’re just sitting here in Berkeley – we don’t know that Afghani informants aren’t being murdered because of these leaks,” she said. “Bradley Manning sounds like a very sincere person, but I’m sorry, we really do have enemies, and it’s not clear at all what the effects of these WikiLeaks are.” [snip]

You’re damn skippy, Ms. Siegel. That’s my point. Not just for the Afghani informants, but for intelligence assets and US personnel around the globe.

In case you were wanted to know more about the resolution, it continues:

Berkeley’s proposed resolution thanks Manning “for his courage in bringing the truth to the American people and the people of the world.”

Army officials had no comment on Berkeley’s resolution, but said that leaking classified data can endanger the lives of informants, provide useful information to the enemy and undermine the trust of those working with the military, according to Department of Defense spokesman Bob Mehal. [snip] (Click HERE to read the rest.)

Holy moley. Ah, yes – “courage.” Is that what we are calling treason these days? Providing classified information to a foreign national? Give me a break already. Manning isn’t exactly Karen Silkwood. He stole classified information, is cocky as hell about it all, and does not appear to be doing it in a “whistle blowing” kind of way, but more of a, “hey, look what I did!” kind of way. Big, big difference.

Not too long after I picked my jaw up off the floor from reading this article, I received the following email from Voters for Peace, with this in the Subject line: “ON BEHALF OF JULIAN ASSANGE AND WIKILEAKS.” Wow. You know I had to open it. The email reads:

Challenging U.S. Empire and its illegal and unjust wars are at the heart of our work at VotersForPeace.US.

This mission calls us to the active defense of journalist Julian Assange, WikiLeaks.org and the courageous whisteblower(s) who are dealing the most powerful blow to U.S. Empire in recent memory with the continuous massive release of documents now rocking world capitals and dominating the global media.

In an attempt to intimidate and silence others, there is serious concern that the U.S. government will try to make Assange an example by manipulation of existing law or the creation of new laws retroactively applied charging him with crimes in the United States and pressuring other governments to extradite him to the USA.

We must create a culture where it is safe and supported to tell the truth about our government’s activities. We must encourage more people to have the courage to reveal what they know about the murder, torture and corruption committed in our name.

We must stand up to protect all whisteblowers and truth tellers in the face of a U.S. government which is increasingly unaccountable to citizens, to domestic or international laws, or to our Constitution.

Recall that The New York Times has admitted it checked every document it published with the government beforehand. We must say to the Empire, “We draw the line HERE. Step back. We will not sit silently while you make this journalist and good government activist into a criminal to drive fear into the hearts of any other who would oppose you. We will resist.”

Please consider signing this petition as an expression of your support for peace, justice, and democracy, www.WikileaksIsDemocracy.org.

Sincerely,

Linda Schade
Co-founder, Voters for Peace

WTH? The “U.S. Empire”?? Are these some of the same people involved in “Hacktivism,” trying to disrupt Visa, Mastercard, and the Palins own personal credit cards,a long with Palin’s PAC to support what they consider to be WikiLeaks free speech rights? (Ironically, they have a narrow view of free speech. It only applies to them, and not to those who, like Palin, oppose what Julian Assange has done. Perhaps they can look up the term “hypocrite” in Wikipedia to see if their picture appears there. Just a suggestion.)

Meanwhile, looks like the DOJ is finally getting its act together (seriously – how long have they had to look into possible wrong-doing?). According to the UK Independent, “Assange Could Face Espionage Trial In The U.S.” What a concept.

Now – about Bradley Manning – will he face additional charges? A court-martial, perhaps? Huh – I wonder what the people in Berkeley would do then? I shudder to think. How about you?

  • yttik

    These people are such amateurs, Rev Amy. Posers, I tell ya!
    Any good hippy activist from the 60′s will tell you, when you decide to expose The Man, make sure you have a goal and a motive in mind! Duh! You have to leak something relevent. Something that needs to be exposed. Some crime that’s been covered up. Leaking for the sake of leaking is something dogs do.

    Seriously, I don’t know what’s wrong with kids nowdays. John Stewart goes and hosts a rally for nothing? Nothing?! Just for the sake of protesting? What are you people for or against?? For goodness sakes, you can’t go out and protest nothing! That’s really stupid!

    I’m only halfway snarking. I grew up in the 60′s surrounded by activists, many of whom were worthy of respect.. The modern left really does embarass me.

  • DAVE

    I just wish that California could leave the US and become its own country.  Let it sink in its own ignorance.  Land of fruit and nuts !

  • donjo

    WL had nothing to do with the hackers.  More power to ‘em. More power to WL, as well.  Someone needs to bring some transparency to our govts. as they sure a hell won’t do it on their own.  Besides, most of the info is years old.  Why isn’t their an outcry about the screwballs who are calling for Assange’s murder? Unlike leaking so-called “secret” pizza orders and not much more, isn’t that slightly illegal? I doubt if the leaks amount to much, either way. Much ado about virtually nothing. 

  • helenk

    When will the parades in berkley begin to honor
    Axis Sally

    Toyko Rose

    Alger Hiss?

    They must have a Benedict Arnold day, don’t they?

    WOMEN WITH INTELLIGENCE AND EXPERIENCE,MEN WHO SUPPORT THEM AND COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY ALWAYS

    PUMAS,BUBBAS,EQUALISTS AND THOSE CHATTERING PEOPLE RULE

  • oowawa

    Sigh . . . California is a big place with lots of different towns and cities.  As for its inhabitants, many of us are very tough and don’t like Obama one bit.  In fact, many of us are right here on this blog . . .

  • Onofre’s arm

    “John Stewart goes and hosts a rally for nothing? Nothing?!”

    It wasn’t for ‘nothing’ yttik. Is was a pissy, limp wristed counter punch to Beck’s 8/28 event. As such, it wasn’t ‘nothing’, it was actually in the negative digits. 

  • Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

    I hear ya, Yttik.  Mind you, I have been in plenty of protests along the way in my lefty life, but really – even though you are joking, your point is a good one abt protesting something specific, for cryin’ out loud. 

    It is one thing to expose wrong doing by a corp. or country, or what have you, but to just throw out a whole bunch of info that is going to get people hurt or killed does not a hero make (e.g., Amb. Wilson made the point that enemies of this country can utilize those cables against us).

    OA – “negative digits” – funny!

  • Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

    Good ones, Helenk!  And a good point, too, I might add.

  • makeji

    I’m a Californian (So. Cal, not that it makes a big difference). The Bay Area wherefore Berkeley, San Francisco, Nancy Pelosi and Jerry Brown exists has always been and will be liberal land. They harbor illegal aliens who murder and mame – sanctuary cities they are called. Lawlessness is a proud badge that many of them wear. If we all break off an land in the ocean – many of us with common sense – which is what this is all really about – would sink with them. :’(

  • Noogan
  • surfered

    Your piece states “By a vote of 7-3, the City Council passed a resoultion…”   It was the Peace and Justice Commission that voted 7-3 to refer the resolution to the City Council.  The City Council will not vote on the resolution until Tuesday.

  • homeless soon

    USA is on war mode where as the American people are on job hunting mode.

    Who would pay for the expenses of our soldiers’ bullets???

    Selling America’s wars to the people

  • Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

    You know, I was a far left liberal for many years.  Well, until 2008, that is.  I look at these kinds of resolutions, and try to see if I could ever have supported something like this.  I don’t think I could.  Why?  Because what Manning did was wrong.  Flat out wrong.  When did being a liberal equate to being, oh, gosh, is there even a word for this?  Supporting an act of treason as courageous?  Calling Marines “unwanted intruders”?  If there is one to sum it up, I just don’t know when they became synonymous.  Unfortunate, that.

    And Makeji – we don’t want to lose you, or oowawa, or any of our other CA friends here into the ocean!

  • Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

    Thank you – I will make that correction. The article was a bit unclear.

  • oowawa

    Well, we went through this in the late 60′s.  I had a friend who actually moved his family to Arizona to avoid the coming catastrophe . . .

  • BIINKY

    I vote to give California to Mexico.

  • Janis

    I still am a liberal.  For me, it all came down when I realized how many people I thought shared principles and had actual convictions had none.  Deep inside, they were just like the Republicans who thought that W was allowed to start illegal wars because he was a good Christian.  Barky is allowed to be a total corporatist buttpuppet because he has an organic garden.  They were just as stupid as the right-wingers who voted for sunlight in a meadow in 1980 — gullible and eager to swallow up the matest hot trendy marketing campaign.

    The only thing they had in common with the right wing was their total contempt for anything female.  And if you’re a right winger going to start in on me about how much yallz Respect Wimminfolk, don’t get started.  I was THERE in the 1980s.  I remember how the frat boy womanhating assholes who supported Reagan and Bush acted toward women and anyone else they felt like vandalizing in celebration.  They acted JUST LIKE THE OBOTS DID IN 2008.

    The problem I have with liberals is that they AREN’T.  It’s the same problem I have with feminists, where they playact caring about women’s issues and suddenly when it does them and their heros a good turn, they trivilialize the accusations of rape victims and call young mothers fat.  Yeah, rape is bad and fat is a feminist issue, unless it’s that conservative woman of her daughter over there, then she’s a fat cow of a slut who asked for it.  I don’t have a problem with them because they are feminist.  I have a problem with them because THEY AREN’T.

  • Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

    Thanks, surfered.  The article was not as clear as it could be, though the mistake is all mine.  Still, I stand by what I wrote.  It is absurd to consider Manning a hero.

  • Tricia

    Sometimes it’s really embarassing to say you are from California.

  • Janis

    It’s a big, big state, Tricia.  I live here and love it.  When push comes to shove Berkeley is one tiny, weird little town that no one would even know about if it weren’t for the university.

  • oowawa

    Yeah, the University and its satellite community are very high-profile and vocal.  On the other hand, there is a working class there also.  My grandfather worked in Berkeley as a tool-and-die foreman for over 30 years, commuting from Novato over the Richmond ferry (before the bridge was built), until he died in the late 50′s.

  • Janis

    And don’t forget one more thing about the university — most of the really smart people who are there came from someplace else.  :)   Believe you me, Berkeley itself couldn’t supply students of the required quality to that place.

  • Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

    True, it is a big state, and one with great beauty in many respects.  But, there are a number of issues coming out of CA, with this being yet another one (on top of Brown’s saying that the economy there is worse than people thought). 

    That university is considered to be mighty prestigious,though.  And while it might be one whacky little area, it is in the midst of a larger area that also has some whacky ideas as people noted upthread.  Though yes, there are large parts of CA that are not like that at all, I realize.  But the post is specifically abt Berkeley.

  • Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

    ROTFLMAO – thanks for the laugh, Janis.  Point well taken!!  :-D

    oowawa, I imagine lots has changed in that area since the time of your grandfather, but I get what you are saying.  And what a legacy left to you of hard work, and doing what needed to be done.  We are in short supply of that these days…

  • Fed Ritz Cracker Berfle

    Those Berkeley twits sound like sophomoric malcontents. It is one thing to discuss pros and cons of a particular item as a philosophical exercise; it is quite another to take a position that is both contrary to reason and to the law. That little prick Manning swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. By his very actions, he violated that oath, which makes him the worst sort of vermin. And those who consider him a hero are either off their cable car or are up to no f-ing good–take your pick.

  • Janis

    Dude, all of life is a philosophical exercise to these idiots.  Their trust fund grandparents prevent them from having to actually interact with the messy real world in any situation.  Life is a giant dispassionate game to those losers; it’s sociopathic, actually.  They go through the world swathed in comfort, like being swathed in cotton batting, so they never feel anything.  Sounds like a nightmare life to me.  Why else would they love drugs and sex so much?  Without coke and a good orgasm, most of them would barely be aware that they have nerve endings.

  • Madame deFarge

    R3A, Berkeleyites revel in being as crazy and contraversial as possible.  After so long of hearing their silly proclamations, it merely evokes a yawn from me.

  • Madame deFarge

    Especially given the excuse he pulled out…he set back gay’s in the military for sure.  According to our local talkies, he was jilted by his boyfriend and decided to “lash out”, “get even”…I don’t know how that’s supposed to connect but that’s what is being said on the wires around here.  Haven’t read much about his background, life, etc…although whatver it has been, it would be short, considering his age.

  • Fed Ritz Cracker Berfle

    I vote to give California to Mexico.
    ===============
    I don’t think Mexico would take it as they have enough problems without taking on an extensive collection of old drug-addled hippies and sun-baked hams.

  • Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

    Is that right, Madame??  If so, you bet that set back DADT.  Good grief.

    Isn’t he an unstable guy anyway?  I recall someone saying the other night on the news that from boot camp on, there were issues and concerns with him.  It begs the question, then: HOW did he get that kind of clearance?  They knew he was troubled, so why even give him any access to sensitive info ever?

  • BIINKY

    HOW did he get that kind of clearance? 

    The same way our POTUS got clearance to highly classified information. The FBI probably didn’t do a background check on him.  Looking at Obutt’s background, friends, political affiliations, should he have had clearance to sensitive, highly classified  information?

  • ces

    They wouldn’t take it because they’d had to start paying for it…

  • Fed Ritz Cracker Berfle

    Looking at Obutt’s background, friends, political affiliations, should he have had clearance to sensitive, highly classified  information?
    =================
    He shouldn’t have access to anything critical to the functioning of this government as he weakens the nation every time he talks, thinks, or acts.

  • Tony Stark

    California really needs to split up into two. Northern California is totally different from Southern California in terms of attitude. Draw the border just above San Luis Obispo, and the North can go in its merry way and form the People’s Republic of Northern California.

  • Katmoon

    Lived in NoCal for almost 25 years, and I still love the city of S.F. itself. My favorite place to visit, but I go for the city not the politics. Now I was from the Marin side of the bay and we fondly referred to Berkley as Bezerkley.

  • Katmoon

    I have to say I still love California, just not crazy about the political climate. Now mind you when I lived in California I had this rude opinion about the Southern states, now that I live here and have experienced it all first hand, some of the jokes are true, yet more often than not, the people are very similar, regardless of which state they live in. It is the cutoms of the states and how the people live and use those customs that are very different. Most recent example is of going to a military funeral, traveling with about 100 other cars on the Freeway(Turnpike?) in North Carolina; cars pull over and stop, semi trucks pull pver and stopped, it still amazes me, I was informed this is a southern custom of respect.
    The idiots on the city council in Berkley clearly have very little work to do if they can find the time to worry over this pea brained traitor, and even more delusional is they believe this declaration they want to vote on is important; to what and to whom I do not know? Will it be in history books 100 years from now, will anyone give a crap what they thought in Berkley, probably not. Way too much acid is what I think.

  • TeakWoodKite

    Tony, that means we can keep the delta water from flowing to the lower valley?

    Oh thats right it’s federal water. silly kite.

  • TeakWoodKite

    Actually, having California as a seperate nation would mean a large part of the US would loose it’s west coast…and the have to get fly over rights….

    That is never gonna happen even if the wacky trade winds do blow west to east. What is in the water?

  • TeakWoodKite

    Actually, having California as a seperate nation would mean a large part of the US would loose it’s west coast…and have to get fly over rights….  
     
    That is never gonna happen even if the wacky trade winds do blow west to east. What is in the water? Hell, I want to no what is in the air….

  • Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

    Katmoon, good point abt the customs.  And I can tell you, being from NC, after my grandmother died and we were driving to the cemetery, having people pull over and stop as a sign of respect brought me to tears.

    And you are spot on – they clearly have too much time on their hands (Janis suggested it is because they are living off their trust funds and are out of touch. They are definitely the latter.).

  • Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

    My totally snarky initial response when I saw this was, “I thought we already had!”  :)

    JUST kidding, Tricia, Janis, oowawa, Madame, and other folks here from CA.  I just couldn’t resist…

  • TeakWoodKite

    I was driving from the east coast and about Indianapolisand tired of zombie driving on interstate 70….I decided to take route 36 to Denver…I got on the CB and raised  trucker or two and asked about the road….in the course of converstion “I was asked where ya headed?” I said, “San Fransisco”.

    Talk about radio silence. The poor ‘ol CB becaime useless as no truckers would talk to me after that…

  • TeakWoodKite

    I was driving from the east coast and about Indianapolis and tired of zombie driving on interstate 70….I decided to take route 36 to Denver…I got on the CB to ask about 36 and raised  trucker or two and asked about the road….in the course of converstion “I was asked where ya headed?” I said, “San Fransisco”.  
     
    Talk about radio silence. The poor ‘ol CB becaime useless as no truckers would talk to me after that…

  • TeakWoodKite

    I am not sure about him setting back DAFT. I would like to think that ones sexual orientation would not be considered as to weather an individual is a security risk. The DOD has been over this ground so much it is a well worn path.

    A Navy study, popularly referred to as the Crittenden Report, concluded as early as “1957 that homosexual service members did not pose a greater security risk than heterosexual personnel.”1 The Secretary of the Navy appointed a board to evaluate the Navy’s policies and procedures governing homosexual service members.

  • Tony Stark

    Maybe Southern California will then get serious about desalination to supply its water needs if the North attempted to hoard the water.

  • TeakWoodKite

    They should do that anyway.

    Water shortages in the American west are well documented and worsening. There is a long history of “water wars” dating to our pioneer history, and as Mark Twain quipped, “Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting for.”

  • TeakWoodKite

    Speaking of water…. The Russians are coming.

    At the same time, the Russians are flush with water. As a country with the most prolific untapped water reserves, Russia, can meet not only their own demand but that of much of the world. Russia has 22 percent of Earth’s fresh water resources. Rivers including the Volga, Lena, Yenisey, Ob’ and Amur, and lakes including Baikal (the largest in the world), Ladoga and Onega comprise much of these reserves. Russia’s six percent of global population consumes less than two percent of its water.
    Russia’s position as a water superpower is not lost on the Russians. The President of the State Duma (Parliament), Boris Gryzlov, has stated that Russia should become a country that leads the way in creating a worldwide market for fresh water supplies. “Since we have such reserves, we could play a key role on this market as we do on the oil and gas market,” he said.

    Read more: Guest Commentary: The Colorado-Russia water connection – The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_16808312#ixzz17g46hLaW
    Read The Denver Post’s Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

  • trixta

    If only we could recoup the millions that the energy companies stole from us Californians…..

  • trixta

    If only we could recoup the millions that energy companies stole from us Californians…..

  • trixta

    If only we could recoup the millions the energy companies stole from us Californians…..

  • makeji

    I heard that he has a very high IQ and was sent to work in intelligence. Problem for him was, he was a private and still had to get coffee for the C.O.s He was bored and was working the night shift and no one was paying attention to him. Spoiled brat.

  • Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

    The issue of water and water rights will become increasingly big world-wide. It is such a major issue.  And yes, silly Kite forgetting it is FEDERAL water!

    As for desalinization, Aruba developed a process as a by-product of refining oil.  The WHO designated it some of the best water in the world.  I realize it is a small island, but if it works there, why can’t it work along the coast of CA?

    Interesting abt the state splitting into two.  We have other North/South states, afterall…

  • Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

    Well, Teak – you know no one wants DADT repealed more than I do, but you have to admit, the TIMING is not good with Manning.

    And yes, it has always steamed me that people insisted homosexuals would be more prone to disclose classified info (presumably because their being gay could be held against them).  It isn’t like we haven’t had a ton of heterosexual people give up classified info because they fell in love with a spy or something. Sheesh!

    Thanks for the study – you are a font of information! :-D  

  • Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

    Oh, wow…Thanks for this. 

  • Stonewall Jefferson

    RRRA, you must be one miserable piece of pork to constantly come up the kind of crap you sling toward those you consider your enemy, who if I may be so bold include liberals, intellectuals, the rich, the far left and anyone with a point of view or opinion that does not parrot your own. Why California gets so much crap from your blathering rants puzzles the holy hell out of me and I have been coming to this site for years and have yet to read one post of yours that makes sense when it stays out in the light of day out from under the dark place that is your mind. Fess up, what’s your secret. Were you raised Catholic, molested by nuns, or Baptized in the blood of a possum? California is a place, and Californians have opinions that differ with the status quo because for the most part the rest of this country follows it own nose toward the nearest pile of untruth, lies, and twisted aphorisms created by people like yourself who think your cryto fascist viewpoint is the only way to see life in general and the political realities in the particular. To use a term well known in Northern California by a well known Calforinan, with a twist, “Baby, you don’t make my day.”

  • oowawa

    They might’ve let you off the hook if you had said “Oakland.”  Or just say “Frisco” and then spit . . .

  • Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy

    None of the above.  And wow.  I feel sorry for someone who feels the need to spew invectives against someone they don’t even know for no reason other than of their own creation.  Sad.

  • Mr. Natural

    Great. Every desalination plant will have an adjoining nuclear power plant, probably on the coast.

    Desalination requires BOOCOO energy…

  • Mr. Natural

    >>> They were just as stupid as the right-wingers who voted for sunlight in a meadow in 1980 — gullible and eager to swallow up the matest hot trendy marketing campaign.  

    WE HAVE A WINNER!!!

  • Mr. Natural

    BULLSHIT!!! We won and bought it fair and square!!!

    No one in Mexico gave a rat’s ass about coming up to Alta California to run the place from Mexico City (as if they were going to miss an opportunity for self-aggrandizement or graft) and the place went to shit.

    NOW…it’s got roads, electric power and (a few) jobs, and we hear that La Raza wants it back.

    Tough shit, Hector. You want it? Whip out your check book.

  • Mr. Natural

    You missed “Lord Haw-Haw” and “Granny Goose.”