As personal verification that I indeed wrote the letter to the mayor of Berkeley:

On Jan 31, 2008 I wrote a letter to the Mayor of Berkeley stating my position regarding his and the City Counsel's position on the USMC recruiting station.
I passed that letter along to a couple of Marine handball buddies. They passed that email/letter to the guys who play in the Semper Fi handball tournament at MCRD, who passed it along to, who passed it along to, etc.
In my wildest dreams I never envisioned the response I have received. I now spend ALL DAY answering my cell phone acknowledging that yes, I really did write "THE" letter, and receiving personal thank yous from Generals, Majors, Colonels, SGTs, PVTs, CEOs, COOs, talk show hosts, and average everyday American Patriots. I have received over 600 calls in the past two days (today is the 8th of Feb.) I am privledged and honored to speak with the finest and best people America has to offer.
Likewise I spend the balance reading emails from the same sort of people.
I am humbled to a degree that is hard to state clearly. I am emotionally overwhelmed with the positive response to my letter and want to thank everyone who has called me or emailed me to state their support.
My intention was never to shine the spotlight on me, it was to cause, to whatever degree I could, great fiscal discomfort to the city of Berkeley in retaliation to their un-American, cowardly and despicable stance that the US Marines are unwelcome, and uninvited intruders in their city.
If in my small way I helped light a fire that now appears to be blazing across the nation, I am proud of that, but I am more proud of the fact that I could , at a time when our heroes are fighting against those who would destroy us, help focus some attention to the vast debt, and undying respect, that we as a nation owe to the men and women of the United States Armed Forces.

Respectfully,

Brian G Dennard

This weak-kneed response was sent to me by the CEO of the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce:

"The Berkeley Chamber of Commerce has heard from individuals far and wide regarding recent Berkeley City Council actions and we appreciate that the American spirit is alive and robust.The business community was not notified of pending city council action, nor asked for input.We ask everyone to try to separate the actions of the City Council and not harm the good, hard-working small business owners - most of whom do not live in Berkeley and therefore cannot vote in Berkeley.Additionally, we believe that the Berkeley City Council owes an apology to the community and others, whether they be a Marine or a hard-working business owner, folks that are just trying to do their job in this terrible economy, and which is now more difficult because their actions. We feel that granting a parking space in front of the Marine's office is harassment for them and their neighbors, and should be rescinded."

"We're the only group that is opposing council actions"
Berkeley Chamber of Commerce

Here is my response:

Brian Dennard

Berkeley Chamber of Commerce:

I would beg to differ with your opinion that you are "the only group opposing the city counsels actions".
You might want to start by reviewing the multitude of addresses CC'd in this email in re-assessing that stance- well over 350. Next if you would like I could forward some of the 13,000 emails I have received from Americans all across the nation, Iraq and Afghanistan who have asked me to continue on with my/our boycott until Berkeley understands clearly that we will not stand for them calling the USMC (or any other branch of the armed services) "war criminals", "murderers", "assassins", etc.
YOUR high schools supplied (let them take off from school if they wanted to demosntrate against the Military) the foul mouthed children who I witnessed verbally assault elderly women by screaming "you Nazi c***t, get out of Berkeley", I watched two of their radical, hate filled teachers, whom your city pays to teach these kids, direct these indoctrinated charges to surround and verbally assault elderly veterans screaming the most vile profanities. Where were you while this abomination was going on. Where exactly were you voicing you opposition to the City Counsels position, from underneath your desk? You most certainly were not anywhere near the City Hall.
If you do believe that the City of Berkeley owes the military an apology then write a letter to them clearly stating that position on Chamber of Commerce stationary and cc everyone on this list, otherwise I am afraid that I and most of these other patriots, will come to the conclusion that you have simply written this wimpy, undecipherable gobbledygook in the hopes that we would feel sorry for the poor people of Berkeley and go away.
You have sorely misjudged your opponents. We stand in defense of our warriors, those men and women who are willing to die for us and our way of life. We owe them no less than to stand up to any and all who mistreat and besmersh their good name, and include in that group those who stand on the sideline rather than firmly, tall and proudly in their name with us.
No, Mr. Garret ( I see that you finally had the courage to add your name to the message below, in that when you first contacted me, you simply went by the name "assistant"), this is far from over.
In fact an appropriate way of phrasing this email should have been:
Now that we have your attention...

I have been contacted by Fortune 500 & 400 companies that wish to join in the boycott, in that they too are disgusted with the un-American antics of YOUR elected officials. They are two of the newest additions which already include three vintners, a Fortune 500 Head Hunter recruiter, restaurant suppliers, clothing manufacturers,
and a day labor provider. The list is growing as I recieve an additional 100-150 calls a day and an additional 500 emails. Further I am being interviewed on numerous prominent radio programs wherein I will ask for more companies to join us in the boycott.

YOUR city seems to be hell bent in repeating the sins of the past when you spit on and cursed those returning from Vietnam. WE are hell bent on teaching you that you and your city will never again be allowed mistreat and besmirch the heroes of the United States Armed Forces.

Good People Sleep Peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

Cordially,

Brian Dennard
IFO
MDG, LLC
619 807 2444

Dear friends,

While we thought that we were close to reaching our goal of getting an apology from the Berkeley City Council, it turns out that the City Council is far from apologetic. Quite the contrary they are now, at the next meeting 2/26/08, formulating a request to the Canadian Governement "to provide sanctuary for U.S. military service members who are living in Canada to resist fighting in the Iraq war" (deserters)! This newest outrage dictates that now more than ever, we need to keep severe economic pressure on the businesses and the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce.

After several strategy sessions with Duane "Dewey" Clarridge specifically about the goals of what was started back on January 31, when I first wrote the now (in)famous Letter to the Mayor of Berkeley, it has become obvious that we need to consolidate our disparite group into a cohesive entity that can apply intense economic pressure to not only Berkeley, but on Toledo, Ohio as well. (You all know what the Mayor of Toledo did in canceling the USMC urban training/maneuvers at the last moment in that city, citing numerous absurd reasons).

I am aware that there are several patriotic organizations actively pushing petitions which lambaste the City Council of Berkeley and are calling for it to " immediately revoke all the resolutions passed on January 29th, 2008 that defamed and insulted our U.S. Marines and issue a full public apology to this nation, and in particular, the honorable and heroic men and women of the United States military." Not the least of which is Move America Forward, with our good friend Melanie Morgan leading the charge for them, and another by Jay Seculo at the ACLJ .

However, I still believe and contend that the way to the "hearts and minds" of the citizens of Berkeley, who are responsible for duly electing the councilmen and women who have gravely insulted, belittled and besmirched our military, is through the ruination of that city's businesses both small and large by directly communicating to them and to the Chamber of Commerce our unrelenting intention to boycott each and everyone of them, and listing all the companies involved in our boycott, and list of names of all the men and women nationwide who back this economic boycott , and free speech movement.

This approach is bolstered by an email I recieved yesterday: As a former Executive Director for two local chambers of commerce, I can assure you that you certainly hit them where it hurt. While serving ..., I became aware that our local cities can ill afford to alienate their constituents, nor to jeopardize their businesses. D. T.

Only when the citizens of Berkeley walk up to the members of the City Council as they pass by on the street and say "Tom (Bates), you and the Council's stand/statements have destroyed our city, we are in economic ruin", will the City Council be forced by their constituents to issue an apology, and a commitment to cease colluding with and abetting ANY organization which impedes the recruiting efforts of U.S. Military recruiters.

To that end, I need all of you who are still with us in the Berkeley Economic Boycott to please respond to expobd@yahoo.com. Let us know if we can (or not) count on you to allow us to identify you and your company in letters to the Berkeley businesses and to the Chamber of Commerce so that they know we are acting as a group. One letter, backed and signed by the group as opposed to myriad letters which may or may not end up in the "circular file" disregarded and unread, will be much more effective. This letter needs to specify who is boycotting and how Berkeley and Toledo will be affected.

PS. I needed to use an alternate email address to differentiate between new emails (100-150 a day) at my MDG account and the 60-70 daily at this cox.net account. Please only answer this request by emailing me at expobd@yahoo.com. Doing so will help me greatly in this effort.


Action plan:

Create a boycott website

Prepare and post on the website a form letter to be used/signed by all those in agreement with the economic boycott. Te letter should state that the boycott will be lifted upon posting of a letter written by the City Council/Mayor apologizing to the U.S. Military and a commitment to cease colluding with and abetting ANY organization which impedes the recruiting efforts of U.S. Military recruiters.

Posting that letter to the Mayors and Chambers with no prior warnings.

Contact all businesses listed in the Chamber of Commerce in Berkeley and Toledo and inform them of the boycott/send letter.

I need to hear from you ASAP. These actions should get the attention of the Senators who are tip-toeing towards bringing the No Earmarks for Berkeley Bill to the floor for an up or down vote.

I also need your comments and suggestions as to a name for the new entity and general observations.

Thanks for all of the support and kind letters.

Best to all of you,

Brian G Dennard
619 807 2444