Victory!

Well, defeat, actually. Berkeley High finally is adopting an opt-out policy for military recruiters.

IF YOU needed a sign as to just how desperate the military has become to find new recruits, look no further than its determination to sign up students from Berkeley High School.

It's hard to imagine a more inhospitable place for recruiters than Berkeley High, especially as increasing numbers of service men and women arrive home in body bags from Iraq. The school, with an enrollment of more than 3,000 students, must rank as one of the great centers of youth pacificism in the United States.

But give the military credit for trying. "We have to enforce what we are directed to carry out in regards to the law," a Pentagon spokesman explained to me last week. "Not to do so would be a failure on our part."

Hmm... desperation = treating all schools equally. I'd imagine if they up and left, they'd be criticized for racism or something, too.

But Berkeley held out. It even earned the distinction of being the last school in the United States to refuse to comply with the demand for student information.

It's not just against the military that Berkeley drew a line in the sand.

Wouldn't a "line in the sand" be one of those they didn't cross even when their funding was credibly threatened? If so, then this wasn't a line-in-the-sand moment, it was a "temper tantrum until there are consequences" moment.

A school official told me that one recruiter sent to Berkeley to pry loose information confessed that he was there because he had been ordered to do so, not because he believed he'd have any success at signing up students.

What a confession! "Military people do jobs because they have orders." Any other shocking, embarrassing facts Louis Freedberg wants to share about the military?

posted by Beetle Aurora Drake 5/30/2007 11:42:00 AM #
Comments (5)

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Comments:

Incredible. Still finding things to whine about after all these years. Your bold truth-telling will never stop, BAD. So long as there is even a single liberal out there doing something stupid, you will be there to document it, even as powerful conservatives commit worse outrages.

# posted by  Tommaso Sciortino : 3:27 PM, May 30, 2007

 

Meanwhile, the wacko Sean "Res Ipsa" Silverthorne is still at it. He's now printing pix of himself in his boxer shorts to show off some bruises and claims he some Patriot fighting off the masses as if he was at the Alamo.

The bruise is ugly, but the pasty white thighs are just disgusting. How can Sean claim to be part Mexican with such white skin?

# posted by  Anonymous : 4:44 PM, May 30, 2007

 

Well, TS, I'm glad that you look to me with such respect that you expect deep thoughts on the major issues facing this country right now. I think that might be a bit misplaced, though. If you find it difficult to find people to document the outrages of powerful conservatives, I think you might need some training in internet-use.

# posted by  Beetle Aurora Drake : 6:56 PM, May 30, 2007

 

It's important to shine a light on what a doctrinaire left-wing cesspool Berkeley High has become (especially with local resident/activists like Freedburg still touting Berkeley as being 'visionary'). Also please note that the Daily Planet recently ran a front page story/photo showing the head of the teacher's union (Barry Fike) conducting a seminar with BHS students on 'negotiating with management' (I'm sure he was impartial). Since there is no organized conservative dissent in Berkeley, and only liberal Democrats and Greens hold elective office, it's a welcome thing to see this stuff held up for scrutiny by someone a bit more skeptical than the local media.

# posted by  Anonymous : 7:28 PM, May 30, 2007

 

Wow, a post about military recruiting and Berkeley High finally complying with the law turns into an attack on Sean Silverthorne's legs.

Frankly, BHS being forced to follow the law is refreshing. Liberals would screech about the sanctity of law if it was some backwards school trying to keep out minorities or somesuch, and the complaints would be justified. But that's the thing about law - you need to follow it, just not the bits you like. (And if I were at BHS, I'd talk to the Marines, just to piss everybody off. :) )

# posted by  Anonymous : 11:20 AM, June 10, 2007

 

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