Profiles in moonbattery: Tacoma

Not to be outdone by its sister city Seattlestan in the anti-military moonbattery department, Tacoma is getting in on the act. From the Seattlestan fishwrap:

Tacoma police say last month's 12-day anti-war protests cost the city an unbudgeted $500,000 to provide a large-scale law enforcement presence.

The rough estimate covers overtime, regular compensation, equipment and food for hundreds of workers from Tacoma police and other agencies, Assistant Chief Bob Sheehan said.

The city plans to ask the Port of Tacoma and the military to cover some of the costs.

"That's a tremendous hit on our budget -- a half-million dollars of unexpected expense," said Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma, adding that the military would get the first invoice.

"I think our request is justifiable," Baarsma said. "I would expect that we would be reimbursed. I would be surprised if we weren't."

Police increased law enforcement at the Port of Tacoma during the convoying and storage of Army Stryker vehicles from March 3 until a ship carrying the military equipment left for Iraq on March 14.

Protesters were there each night.

Just to make sure I'm understanding this correctly:

A legion of unemployable non-bathing dope-smoking anti-troop hippie retread miscreants decided to show up and taunt America's Finest as they were preparing to deploy to war. Tacoma dispatched a fleet of law enforcement officers to make sure said miscreants didn't get out of hand (as they are known to do). Now, the city of Tacoma wants the military to pay for trying to keep the miscreants at bay?

What a precedent: billing others to keep thugs off their backs! Good God (insert politically correct deity/entity of choice here), why don't we also bill rape victims for the costs incurred to prosecute their attackers? Memo to Tacoma: our soldiers were the victims here, NOT your city! If I were the military, I'd tell Tacoma to go driving with Ted Kennedy.

Un-freakin'-believable. As always, if you haven't questioned their patriotism yet, go ahead and feel free to do so at this time.