Kennesaw, Georgia has responded with a resolution of its own. The Kennesaw City Council passed a resolution on Monday, Feb. 4 in support of the U.S. Armed Forces, and opposing a resolution by the City of Berkeley. In part, Kennesaw's resolution states that the "City of Kennesaw pays respect and tribute to those who protect and defend our rights to enjoy the freedom of speech which is essential to the fabric of this Nation ..."

You can get the full resolution by visiting the official web site of the city of Kennesaw, Georgia, at www.kennesaw.ga.us or go directly to the resolution page at www.kennesaw-ga.gov/documents/City%20Manager/Release%20-%20City%20of%20Kennesaw%20resolution%20supports%20military%2C%20opposes%20Berkeley%20resolution.pdf.

As a Southerner, born and bred, I am proud to stand with the City Council of Kennesaw, Georgia in their public opposition to the actions and intentions of the pinheads in the city government of Berkeley, California.

I want to state publicly and forcefully that not all Californians are kooks and flakes or extreme leftists who take unappreciative actions such as the City of Berkeley has taken. However, that being said, I defend their right as citizens of America to freedom of speech even though they would prefer to deny that same right to others. I defended that right with 26 years of military service, both in war and peace; I stood in defense of that freedom, among the other freedoms everyone living in the United States enjoy, whether citizens or not.

Also, I must note that not all of Berkeley is “wacko”; the city hosts one of the great universities – the University of California.

Herman W. Hughes, Ph.D., Captain, USNR (Retired), Professor Emeritus of Pepperdine University, lives in Lakeport.

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Raphael - Pinheads IP:12.210.218.xxx | 02-08-2008 06:48:21 ...kooks, flakes, wackos...? Is this the best a Professor Emeritus can do to express disagreement? Code Pink and the Berkeley City council have been bombarded by hate mail from pro-war forces, as expected. Yet all they are doing is making a statement not so much against the military, but against Bush's failed military policy in Iraq and endless occupation. It is unfortunate that controversy is the only thing that grabs the attention of the mainstream media and of the public. Without some controversial speech or action, nothing gets noticed, least of all intelligent discourse and facts. It seems to me the "wackos" are those who declared "mission accomplished" while a quagmire was being created in Iraq, something anyone with a minimum IQ could have predicted, as did Dick Cheney in the 90's when he justified Bush the elder's decision not to go into Baghdad. Code Pink, which is behind the Berkeley decision, is composed exclusively of women. Women have every right to forcefully oppose war, as they, and children, are always victimized on all sides in all wars. Anti-war movements have always existed in this nation, they were not invented during the Vietnam war. Strong opposition existed to America's involvement in WW1 and WW2, some of it from women's movements. Einstein was fiercely against all war. He was neither a flake nor a wacko. America will only be safe from potential and existing enemies when it stops selling billions of dollars worth of weapons to every nation on the planet, including Middle Eastern nations, an area that does not need to be any more inflamed. Let's not be hypocritical, war in this 21rst century is business (sky rocketing profits, pun intended), nothing more, and who wants to kill or die for business?

lcsage - immigrant troll Registered | 02-08-2008 10:15:50 Tiny Tim continues his anti American diatribe and inane rants. I think Homeland Security needs to investigate and deport him back to where the fk he came from. He is an expert on nothing except looking and behaving like a sixties throwback. Muy feo.

smurf - surplus jarheads? IP:66.81.73.xxx | 02-08-2008 11:13:41 for starters, how successful would a recruiting center be in Berkeley anyway? And who needs the Marines anymore, why a whole seperate military service just to do amphibious assaults, which have been irrelevent since WW 2? The Marines exist today because of the vanity of the current and former marines, not because we need the redundancy. But this is why I hate the corps, they are at KV high school EVERY day waving wads of cash in front of poor CHILDREN trying and lying shamelessly to get them to sign-up for a hitch. these are the real child predators, for their job is not to protect this country but is to keep American economic imperialism alive. So I have a hard time being bothered by Berkeley putting a crimp in the immoral use of our military to illegally occupy two countries, maybe if more cities did this we'd have a honest discussion about what we're spending the lives of these marines on.

inov8tiv - Pro constitution not pro war Registered | 02-08-2008 11:40:16 Don't misconstrue Mr. Hughes' point. He apparently concurs with Voltaire "I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it." Neither Berkeley nor Code Pink get to express their opinions in a manner that denies the right of others to freedom of speech or of assembly both of which are explicitly protected by the 1st Amendment of the Constitution. That is not pro war, it is the law of our Democracy.

Donna Christopher - Sure smurf, how IP:12.206.148.xxx | 02-08-2008 11:41:59 dare they offer a kid a way to make a living, learn how do to something and maybe even get to go to college. Yeah, they should just stay where they are in their poverty and dead end life and be happy about it as you and RM would not then be offended by their actions. Yeah, we shouldn't be offering incentives for volunteers we should just go back to the draft - that would be so much better. No one would be offended by bonuses being offered. Unless you're rich, no deferment for you. If a recruitment office isn't recruiting anyone they close their doors so I doubt that office is full of cobwebs. I do concur on the war in Iraq but Afghanistan was the right thing to do. A 'whole separate unit for amphibious assaults' tells me all you know about marines is that you can call them a jarhead. Well, I wouldn't recommend that you personally (or your buddy RM) do it to a real live retired one. Hey Lake County former Marines - we could sell tickets to that event and raise some funds for Tango Mike Think I'll call my cousin in Georgia tonite and tell him thanks. And Berkeley really should send back any and all federal funds it receives, isn't that evil warmongering money, aren't the patently offended by it?

smurf - why Donna is wrong IP:66.81.73.xxx | 02-08-2008 16:00:21 marine recruiters in Lake County tell our kids every day that they can't get job skills or afford college without their help, the fact is there are many forms of finacial aid available to college students and the job skills offered by ANY branch of the service are VERY narrow and in only a VERY few cases useful in the private sector. Do you condone the lying? We should have a draft with NO defferments, it seems that's the only way to keep this country out of unnessesary wars, people are always too casual about wasting the lives of other people's kids and having a draft would make it all VERY real for them. I absolutely stand by my assertion (shared by many in the military), that the marines are redundant and their existance is not based on military nessesity. the marines waste most of their money on gadgets like the Osprey and Harrier, which are two useless, complex and obscenely expensive aircraft with tragic service records. Leave the flying to the Air Force or navy, we don't need three services having the same gear to do the same mission. Marines died in droves because we sent them into battle without the right gear or training because the focus was on gadgets instead (see above), but do you hear the defenders of the corps gripe about that? So Donna, if you can describe a mission the Army can't manage or explain why it's OK to Lie to children and suggest a carreer as a proffesional killer is the best employment opportunity we can offer them please do, if you can't I guess you can always go back to the " Marines are tough and will kick your ass if you dis them" line, which is about all you can do when you run out of logic and facts.

James - A former old Marine Registered | 02-08-2008 16:05:43 I can say there is no shame for my service.Say what you will, your right and someone died and others injured, a high price I think for those that would like to shut me up.

Raphael - Missing the point IP:12.210.218.xxx | 02-08-2008 17:31:23 as usual...Code Pink is making a statement not against the military, but against Bush's failed war and endless occupation in Iraq (they are not opposing the war in Afghanistan). They are making such a controversial statement because nothing else is ever reported by the mainstream media but controversy, or the usual propaganda. (when millions of people demonstrated against the war at the very beginning, it was hardly reported anywhere) People have a right to disagree, to be angry, whatever, but the Berkeley City Council also has a right to do what it is doing. Lunatics like icsage are the kind of people who have no tolerance for free speech, for freedom, who would have all who disagree with them behind bars or in concentration camps, those are the reactionaries who don't fit well in America, who don't like America, who would have fitted very well in the former Soviet Union or Nazi Germany. But there are still nations where dissent is severely punished. Why don't you try North Korea or China, Icsage? And I agree with smurf about the draft...people would consider war more carefully if every one was sent to war rather than just the poor and minorities, which is a rather cowardly and hypocritical way for the majority to wage war.

lcsage - immigrant troll Registered | 02-08-2008 18:16:25 the point is I take great offense to some foreigner criticising OUR government and especially the Military, the USMC and the likes of James and Capt. Hughes. If it weren't for the likes of them and those like them, some foreign sixties Berkeley mentality freak wouldn't be able to sit on his high horse waiting for a Marine to relocate his nose to the other side of his face. Semper Fi

Raphael - Hey icsage IP:12.210.218.xxx | 02-08-2008 21:47:37 my grandson is a marine, and we get along very well. As a matter of fact he wants me to move to Missouri to be closer to him and his wife and baby. But unlike you I don't cowardly hide behind anonymity. So if you want to confront me, you are welcome to do so. For your info, Homeland Security was not created to investigate people who merely have opinions, but people who have ties with terrorism. I know that in your seriously damaged mind it is difficult to tell the difference, thankfully the government still does. And Code Pink is allowed in Congress, and was even under Republican majority. It has been waving banners against the war in Iraq for a long time now, you can see them on c-span. You see unlike you icsage, most Americans (and even politicians) have a vague but sufficient understanding of the Constitution and the Bill of Right, and do not wish for a military dictatorship where those who disagree with some current government policy are silenced or made to "disappear". It is however rather amusing that you would give my opinions that much power and be so completely threatened and devastated by them as to want to call the 7th cavalry for rescue. I don't even wish I had that much power myself, I would not know what to do with it. As a matter of fact every time I write anything, even a comment, I have the strong feeling that I am wasting my time, I sure have more important things to do, not being retired and not seeing retirement anywhere near the horizon. But I suppose anyone who has an IQ anywhere above 45 threatens you. Let's see how much YOU criticize the government when a Democratic president is elected. The difference between you and I? I won't call you a fascist, and I have never been threatened by your opinions, and never will. For one thing, you would have to be able to actually express your opinions rather than spit and hiss.

lcsage - don't flatter yourself Registered | 02-09-2008 13:43:26 a foreign born immigrant troll such as yourself who criticises our government and selective military situations (it's ok to you for a relative to be in the military - you hypocrite)is not only offencive to all patriots and especially your lame remarks about Capt Hughes that smack of your mentality of an era that catered to disgusting people like yourself. I am sure you reek of pachoulie. Go back to Europe, fool. You wear a pink thong to support operation code pink.

Raphael - Do you mean Author | 02-09-2008 21:45:15 to tell me that you don't like what I have to say?...really?... I thought you and I agreed on everything, so now I am really shocked, darn, life will be very hard knowing icsage does not like me. How can I go on? That really is devastating, I don't know what to say. I don't know if I will ever recover. Seriously, I hate the smell of patchoulie, and I have never been part of the mostly middle class "hippie" fake movement (such as "let's drop out" but get mommy and daddy to send a check when things get tough). I was born poor, I am an artist born in a family of artists and non-conformists, I was on my own and independent at 17, I have my own mind, and I believe in FREEDOM above all, I mean the kind of total freedom that can ONLY be found in or near the wilderness far from any trace of any FREAKING STINKING civilization. And that is where I hope to end up, in the middle of nowhere will suit me perfectly, in the Northwest Territories, the Yukon or Alaska. I talk about politics because I like to see what comes out of people's mind... very little apparently. Most of the intelligent people must have better things to do that makes comments. BUT FRANKLY, I COULD NOT CARE LESS ABOUT POLITICS. I am old enough to know, like James, that it is all cow dung, rotten from the inside out, from all sides, right, left and center, because greed and corruption will always win the day, they have for over 2000 years. Heck I knew this when I was 15. So you are really getting excited about no'ing, as a matter of fact I have had you going for a while now icsage...I hope you monitor your blood pressure. But I do care about Native issues, about all indigenous people, I guess you'll have to live with that.

lcsage - You had nobody Registered | 02-11-2008 11:40:07 going anywhere. I just find your mentality and anti govt rants disgusting and odious, just like your physical appearance. You should move someplace, like Bumfuk Ark. Your rants about the indigenous are so much meaningless crap coming from a foreign immigrant with a cold_war_slur menatlity.

Raphael - ACTUALLY Author | 02-12-2008 00:39:30 icsage, whoever you are, first of all I have to tell you again, I could not care less what you think about my "mentality" or "physical appearance"...Why are you so OBSESSED anyway? Are you a paranoid-schizophrenic? A closeted Nazi? A latent psycho? Secondly, every one can see that the filth is originating from you, not me, as you are unable to express yourself in any other way than as a bully...ignorant, offensive, abusive, a bigot, a racist and xenophobe. I am very surprised the Lake County News allows your constant insults to be published...You have nothing to reply to my comments or articles but insults, what is the point of allowing this gutter trash?...There is a limit to free speech, and that's when it becomes harassment or slender. Finally, if you don't like what I write, who is forcing you to read it? You must be bored to death, or really enjoy getting offended! You could be one of these mental cases who love to hate.

Donna Christopher - Why smurf is wrong Author | 02-08-2008 18:40:50 Tho I totally agree with you about the draft, we surely would not be in this mess if it was still in effect. There is no way in hell I could have gotten the college I got without the GI education bill. Grants are great to cover costs of books, tuition etc but when your in class you aren't at work and that makes it hard to keep a roof over your head. As far as military skills not transfering to the private sector - you greatly discount our military industrial complex smurf. Not only do they transfer well, you even get bonus points for being a veteran. Front line infantry pretty much only gets you a job with Blackwater but I hear that pays good. So what really changes if we no longer call them Marines but the mission has not changed? If we make it a Navy or Air Force recruitment office in Berkeley how will the mission change? Code Pink seems to be more interested in getting on the evening news - where were they when the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan and took all the professional women and put them in burkas? Oh, thats right, the evening news slept thru that one also.

smurf - etc. Registered | 02-08-2008 23:11:21 I have a daughter in college and another on the way so I get scholarship offers here almost every day, and college is MUCH cheaper now that so many online courses are offered. 95% of the jobs the military has to offer have no private sector counterparts, their training is mostly useless. The redundancy the Marines add to the military means money is wasted, and every time the pentagon does that it means people will die because money wasn't spent on something (usually mundane stuff like amor plating in the doors and floors of HumVees), this inefficancy wouldn't work in the private sector and only does in government because it's our custom to fight tommorrow's wars with yesterday's mentality and equipment. And James, suggesting streamlining the military changes nothing about your service, which you have every right to be proud of.

Raphael - Hey this is Author | 02-09-2008 01:29:30 all very interesting Donna...But rather than spending trillions of dollars on ever more sophisticated weapons to sell to foreign mad men or to pile up on top of other piles, and have enough to kill all of humanity a thousand times over, why not free higher education? Oh that's a dangerous idea, the poor might get educated and start questioning things, that would be the end of our civilization as we know it! But let's not worry about the army, the marines or the navy...soon enough we will have a military force almost entirely composed of mercenaries hired by corporations like Blackwater...who will wage war to defend corporate interests worldwide. After all, it makes perfect sense, doesn't it?

Donna Christopher - Ok I get it smurf & RM IP:12.206.148.xxx | 02-09-2008 12:11:15 you don't like the military. So lets just get rid of it completely. We'll lay down all our armaments, join hands and sing cumbaya. We'll all sit around and navel gaze. What could possibly go wrong with that scenario? I mean, I'm sure you have thought this all the way thru, once we hoist the white flag with the smiley face on it, it will all be ok to trot off to free college while living at home for free, right? Really, I do like your scenario far better than what our kids face now. Can either of you provide either of my sons with an excuse note for their respective CO's?(tho they did make a commitment, gonna have a bit of a problem in telling them now, after all these years, that your word is NOT your bond) Then they can come home to no job prospects, no further education in the near future (I suspect completely retooling our form of government and current business models to get to free education will take a spell). I'm sure the rest of the world will give us a free pass while we transform into what, The Peoples Republic of Berzerkley. Let me be very clear RM & Smurf - I Do No Like The Mess We Are In Either. What is the first step towards changing our "mo"? Get rid of recruiting offices, will that change the world as it sets today? When you two are done remodeling America - am I gonna end up in a Burka?

Raphael - Wow Author | 02-13-2008 01:14:05 ...don't worry, I have no intention of remodeling anything, you can have it all as is, and be happy with it all, poisoned air, poisoned land, poisoned water, the corporate state, wars waged by the haves against the have-not, anti-matter weapons, laser weapons, weapons in space, weapons under your pillow, more nuclear weapons than people, corporate mercenaries, legalized torture, reality shows and fake news, martial law, a disappearing Constitution and Bill of Rights, the total surveillance and monitoring of every person everywhere at all times and from all angles, I have no intention of changing any of it even if I could, I wouldn't want anyone to be deprived of such a beautiful life and future, and as long as the mall is open, the sitcoms keep popping up and the populace still has the freedom to get in debt up to its eyeballs, who cares? Not I...caring would be a suicidal act, as the slaves love to be slaves, apparently.

James - smurf etc Registered | 02-10-2008 10:12:25 You atrtribute words to me not said. I only have this to say. The militarys not the problem, need to look some place else.

lcsage - if you cry to admin Registered | 02-13-2008 19:40:43 they will remove all criticism of the pro Berkeley crowd.

jjensen - So mistaken Super Administrator | 02-13-2008 21:10:56 Dear anonymous loser, lcsage, I have removed several of your posts that are clear and simple personal attacks on another reader of this board, as per my email to your email address. The posts I removed were devoid of value in the context of the discussion and thus failed to meet the minimum bar. I can only hope you were a better student in school as you simply haven't learned to play well with others on the Internet. I imagine that's because you fancy yourself anonymous. Feel free to keep up the nonsense and watch them vanish as they violate site policy. Eventually I'll get bored of that and consider some other solution to your worthless posts. As I've told you before, I respect your right to free speech so you can go and stand on any street corner and share your abusive screeds on public property. This is my property.

lcsage - I see Registered | 02-13-2008 22:28:56 It's ok for someone that is cut from the same fabric as you to make personal attacks on authors, but the reverse is not true. What's good for the goose is not good for the gander. When you control the marbles, it's do as I say and not as I do. I understand fully. I suspect you attended an institution as the one in question if not THE exact one. I understand fully that it is your property and not syndicated (you're NOT syndicated ARE you JJ?)so we play by your rules and not those of normal society. It's becoming all too transparent.

jjensen - Better Super Administrator | 02-14-2008 13:52:23 No I didn't go to Berkeley. I do have a four year degree that I worked my ass off for. In fact every one in my immediate family successfully sought to better themselves with similar pursuits. Dad got his PHD some years after the Air Force, so I guess he's your worst nightmare - an educated veteran. For my own part a nasty motorcycle wreck ended my plan to join. Your anti-intellectual attitude is amusing but really backward and a huge part of the reason the country is currently in the mess it is in. We have become a nation ruled by ruthless stupidity and shortsighted greed. Or were you too busy watching Fox news to notice? If you believe that the rules of 'normal society' entitle you to go around calling people childish names, you really ought to use your actual identity so that normal society knows who you are and can more easily avoid eye contact. If you cannot debate civilly then you should sit on the side lines till you learn how, you might even, heaven forbid, learn something about 'normal society.'

lcsage - JJ Registered | 02-15-2008 11:00:44 I respect your accomplishments and don't dishonour your Dad's by your comments toward my disrespect for certain PSEUDO-intellectuals whose anti establishment rants I detest. Those whose every posting reeks of only tearing our country down, I have no use for. Most politicans are as you state, only in it for the greed. So, as I stated, I only have issues with the pseudos and that does not include you. ok? I will refrain from calling them left over sixties freaks and the likes. Nothing will change my dislike for those types.

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