After thousands of your comments and emails reached city council members and Berkeley’s mayor, the Berkeley City Council revised the part of its resolution calling the Marines “unwelcome intruders”, but it still wants the Marines to move.

Council members took note of the huge crowds of pro troop supporters outside city council meetings and at the recruiting office (where Code Pink supporters have - thanks to the Mayor - a city approved and assigned parking space) and of the national outrage expressed in The ColbyFiles blog and others.

Still council members have held firm on their demand that Berkeley is no place for brave American women and men to sign up to serve.

Working alongside those of you who support our troops, MoveAmericaForward.org will launch a new ad campaign tomorrow continuing to put pressure on the council to change its mind.

Here’s their press release:

This Thursday, February 21, 2008, a new television ad will be unveiled that condemns the Berkeley City Council for their recent anti-military resolutions.The ad is produced by the nation’s largest pro-troop organization, Move America Forward and comes in response to the Berkeley City Council’s refusal to rescind all of the anti-military resolutions they passed on January 29th, as well as their refusal to apologize to our troops. The commercial will run nationwide on cable news channels and on broadcast network affiliates in the San Francisco Bay Area.

I wanted you to know the effort to get Berkeley on board is ongoing and your continued support of our troops will make a difference.

Leave your comments for the Council and Mayor Tom Bates here…and have your voice heard!!

I hope you caught my interview with Ying Lee, a former Berkeley city council member and supporter of Code Pink protest efforts in front of the Marine recruiting office in Berkeley on our “You Decide 2008″ show today. I just wrapped that interview and I am stunned that leadership in a community that opposes the war believes it can deprive the rest of us from the safety and security offered by the brave men and women willing to sign up.

If Americans all took the approach taken by the Berkeley city council and its mayor - bashing the boots on the ground - what would that mean for you and me?

Keep your comments flowing…Berkeley is listening!

Senator Jim DeMint told me on the show today that even if you don’t live in Berkeley, he needs your help to send a message to Berkeley to back off their demand the Marines be sent packing. Berkeley’s mayor, a retired Army Captain, told the Marines he’s ready to get them out of their lease early so they can go! Senator DeMint has proposed cutting in excess of $2 million in funding to Berkeley for their actions against the Marines.

This is the place to speak up if you want to tell the city council that is booting the Marines to stop their offensive and likely politically motivated action. Read the comments to my post just below for links on how you can also tell your congressional representatives we must support our troops too!!!

UPDATE: SENATOR JIM DEMINT WILL BE ON OUR SHOW THIS SATURDAY BETWEEN NOON AND 2PM EASTERN. POST YOUR COMMENTS AND I WILL READ AS MANY AS I CAN ON THE SHOW.

Ralph wrote The Colby Files “how about a blog about Berkeley trying to boot the troops”. To the point, some folks in Berkeley California and the City Council there say it’s no place to recruit. Here’s just the latest on this story from foxnews.com:

Friday , February 01, 2008

WASHINGTON —

U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., says the City of Berkeley, Calif., no longer deserves federal money.

DeMint was angered after learning that the Berkeley City Council voted this week to tell the U.S. Marine Corps to remove its recruiting station from the city’s downtown.

“This is a slap in the face to all brave service men and women and their families,” DeMint said in a prepared statement. “The First Amendment gives the City of Berkeley the right to be idiotic, but from now on they should do it with their own money.”

“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,” he added.

In the meantime, a senior Marine official tells FOX News that the Marine office in Berkeley isn’t going anywhere.

“We understand things are different there, but some people just don’t get it. This is a part of the military machine that gives them the right to do what they do, but what they are doing is extreme,” the official said.

DeMint said he will draft legislation to rescind any earmarks dedicated for the City of Berkeley in the recently passed appropriations bill — which his office tallied to value about $2.1 million. He said that any money taken back would be transferred to the Marines.

DeMint’s office provided a preliminary list of items that would be subject to his proposal:

— $975,000 for the University of California at Berkeley, for the Matsui Center for Politics and Public Service, which may include establishing an endowment, and for cataloguing the papers of Congressman Robert Matsui.

— $750,000 for the Berkeley/Albana ferry service.

— $243,000 for the Chez Panisse Foundation, for a school lunch initiative to integrate lessons about wellness, sustainability and nutrition into the academic curriculum.

— $94,000 for a Berkeley public safety interoperability program.

— $87,000 for the Berkeley Unified School District, nutrition education program.

The Marine official, speaking with FOX News on Friday, said Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway scoffed at the news, but there are no plans for to protest the City Council’s decisions. There are definitely no plans to move the recruiting station either.

“To actually put something into law that encourages the disruption of a federal office is ridiculous. They are not going to kick a federal office out of its rightful place there, and this is not going to discourage those young patriots who want to be Marines,” the official said.

The Berkeley City Council this week 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,” according to The Associated Press.

The council also voted to explore whether a city anti-discrimination law applies to the Marines, with a focus on the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that prevents open homosexuality in the military.

The council also voted to give the antiwar group Code Pink a parking space in front of the recruiting office once a week for six months, as well as a protest permit.

The Marine recruiting office in Berkeley has been open for about one year, but has been the subject of recent protests by Code Pink members.

I’ve been steaming over this story since I was a guest on Red Eye Wednesday. On that show, I asked residents opposing this recruitment office whether they’d like to replace the brave men and women who are signing up to protect ALL OF US.

WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY TO THE CITY COUNCIL AND RESIDENTS OPPOSING THIS?