Posted on 03/22/2003 9:01:36 AM PST by Bob J
Please note, with URL if possible, all media mentions, interviews, segments, etc. about any RALLY FOR AMERICA! We need to keep track of all coverage or, the lack of coverage, particularty from the national media!
Cover 'Liberty Weekend'
Over the last few weeks, tens of thousands of Americans have been coming out to support our president and our troops at a series of "Rallies for America," held across the country from Washington, D.C., to California. Where have the news media been? There's plenty of coverage of the socialist-led anti-war demonstrations, complete with their vanguard of radical left-wing Hollywood "actors." But where is the coverage of these rallies of grassroots support? The silence coming from the major news media has been deafening.
This coming weekend is Liberty Weekend -- a full weekend of "Rallies for America" all over the country, sponsored by conservative organizations nationwide. I'm writing to insist that you fulfill your journalistic obligations, by actually covering these upcoming rallies (locations can be found at freeper.org).
You have a duty to report on these grassroots outpourings of support for our country. Please, be sure to cover "Liberty Weekend" and the nationwide "Rallies for America."
LISA DARLEY
Hyrum
Link is here.
THEY JUST SAID THAT THE PRO-WAR RALLY PEOPLE OUTNUMBERED THE COMMIES IN CHICAGO!!!!!!!!!!!!
YEAH!!!
By AMY L. ZITKA, Middletown Press Staff March 20, 2003
With the deadline for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq having passed Wednesday night, and the start of the bombing of the country citizens throughout the area will have a chance this weekend to show their support for the troops, no matter if they support President Bush’s decision to attack or not.
The Connecticut Chapter of FreeRepub-lic.com and the Marine Corps League of New Britain are sponsoring a Rally To Support the Troops on Saturday during Liberty Weekend. The rally is scheduled for between noon and 2 p.m. at the Veterans of Foreign Wars on Massirio Road, Berlin.
A few weeks ago there was a rally in Manchester attended by about 300 people, rally organizer Jim Bancroft said. About 500 flyers have been handed out for this weekend’s rally to support the troops. Besides the New Britain-based Marine Corps League, the American Legion and VFW in Berlin are assisting.
"With the war coming on, it could be over 500," he said. "We expect it to be very well attended."
There will not be any fancy entertainment, but Bancroft said there will be "plenty of patriotic Americans waving flags."
Recently, the Free Republic Network and the Young Americans for Freedom called for nationwide rallies in support of America, the military, and the war against terrorism.
"We feel it is critical for Americans to stand together to demonstrate to our fellow citizens, our soldiers, our nation and the world our resolve to support our troops, stands in opposition to terrorism and terrorists, and endorse the liberation of the Iraqi people," Free Republic Network National Director Bob Johnson and Executive Director Jason Harding of Young Americans for Freedom said in a press release. "We call on every American to help organize or attend a Rally for America event during Liberty Weekend (Saturday and Sunday) to support these resolutions."
The Tristate Chapter of FreeRepublic.com is also sponsoring a Rally for America on Sunday at noon in Times Square at 42nd Street and Broadway in New York City. If participating in the New York City rally, metal, wood or solid flagpoles and sticks for signs are not allowed, use cardboard tubes for signs and flags.
snip...
Hundreds rally to salute troops, Bush
Locals show their support for war effort
Saturday March 22, 2003
By Stephanie Doster
Kenner bureau
Wearing red, white and blue and waving the Stars and Stripes in all sizes, hundreds of area residents turned out in Kenner on Friday to show support for President Bush and American troops.
"With our nation at war, it's particularly important that we do something like this to honor them," said Metairie resident Margaret Baird, who organized the event, Rally for America, at the Veterans Century of Sentries Park.
Bethany Wangler of Gretna and her 2-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, helped kick off the event by leading the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance. Wangler's husband, Paul, 30, a Marine Corps warrant officer, is serving in Kuwait, about 80 miles from the Iraqi border, she said, and she's scared.
"It's time we did something. The hardest thing is every night (Elizabeth) asks where Daddy is. Daddy's a hero," said Wangler, who was sporting a sequined American flag hat. "Support our troops. They'll be coming home."
Some said much has been made of antiwar demonstrations around the globe, and now it is their turn to be heard.
"I'm tired of seeing the antiwar protests," said Ronnie Schindler of Destrehan. His son, Chris, 23, a Navy ensign, is in Norfolk, Va., waiting to be deployed.
"Once he's there I'll feel better," Schindler said. "He wants to be part of the program and make this thing all go away."
Chris Schindler's grandfather, A.J. Frey, a World War II Navy veteran from Mandeville, said he wouldn't have missed the rally.
"I'm backing our country and our troops," he said.
Sponsors of the event included the Free Republic Network and Young Americans for Freedom, organizations that called for nationwide rallies Friday, today and Sunday during "Liberty Weekend" in support of the United States, its military and the war against terrorism.
There are 56 such rallies planned for the weekend across the country, and photos from each one will be put onto a CD and sent to American troops overseas to show America supports them and boost their morale, Baird said.
Other sponsors included the National Federation of Republican Assemblies and the American Conservative Union.
While anxious and proud supporters of the war effort waved flags and signs scribbled with patriotic slogans, a number of elected officials took to the podium to give thanks to the men and women in the armed forces.
Among them were Kenner Mayor Louis Congemi; U.S. Rep. David Vitter, R-Metairie; and state Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson. Scalise joined Congressional Medal of Honor winner and Retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. James Livingston in hailing the courage of the men and women in uniform, praising the freedoms Americans enjoy and thanking the crowd for turning out.
"Tonight we stand in support of our troops," Congemi said. "In the end, America will win and freedom will prevail."
link is nbc33.com, however, no story online yet about it. Hopefully Indi freepers will check in...!
LAWRENCE KANSAS - Two faces of America at war were on display here Friday.
At midday, anti-war demonstrators briefly blocked traffic by lying "dead" and "dying" in the middle of a downtown intersection. Then, in the evening, a group that supports the war effort came to life.
At almost the same spot where anti-war protests had unfolded, a new wave of demonstrators stood in front of the Douglas County Courthouse at 11th and Massachusetts streets, waving flags at passing motorists. Cars honked, and that pleased organizer Matt Buff, who has a brother in the military in Kuwait, 21-year-old Daniel Buff.
"This is really for him," said Matt Buff, who had the support of the local posts of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion. "I want to let him know a lot of people do support him."
Some of the anti-war protesters who had been on hand at midday lined up across the street from the pro-war side. Several police officers stood by, but the event remained peaceful.
Don Dalquest, commander of American Legion Post 14, said he was not there to agitate the other side.
"We want to show support for George Bush, the United States and the troops over there," Dalquest said.
Buff said he expected the group to hold another rally at 6 p.m. next Friday at the courthouse.
Earlier Friday, nearly 30 persons wrapped in "bloody" white sheets arrived at the intersection of 11th and Massachusetts. "Innocent people are dying!" a woman cried, as the protesters spread out. They slumped to the street, writhing and screaming, black coffins scattered about.
Horns blared, and police cars arrived. Initially, officers directed traffic to back up and turn around. But within five minutes, an officer asked the protesters to move. They obeyed.
Several said that no group or person in particular organized the event. They said it was a grass-roots effort put together by people who opposed Bush's decision to invade Iraq.
"It was called a die-in -- an anti-war message through theater to express to the people in this community the atrocities of war," said Kiran Jayaram, 28, one of the protesters.
"We're here to spread a message and maybe cause a little bit of a ripple, but we are not here to cause damage or do anything violent."
After leaving the intersection, the protesters walked down Massachusetts Street to Ninth Street, staging another die-in on the sidewalk there.
Anti-war demonstrators also gathered in Kansas City, with men, women and children raising their voices -- and their signs -- on the Country Club Plaza.
From 6 to 7 p.m. the protesters stood on the sidewalks around the Nichols fountain on the south end of Mill Creek Park, urging motorists to "honk for peace." Then they marched west along 47th Street, past storefronts and tourists, chanting, "Drop Bush, not bombs."
They carried signs declaring how they felt about war: "Regime Change Begins at Home," "Air Error is Their Terror," "Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor's Oil," "Preemptive War is Terrorism," and "Why is killing 1 person murder and killing 100,000 foreign policy?"
Watching the U.S. air and land campaign against Iraq intensify Friday had saddened these anti-war activists.
"We shouldn't attack countries that don't attack us," said protester Lynn Cheatum of Brookside. "It's criminal. It's un-Christian. It's probably un-Muslim, too."
Standing next to Cheatum just south of the park, James Marinovich of Kansas City, North, said, "I'm here protesting an unjust war. Modern warfare, when you know there will be a large number of innocent people killed, is unjust and immoral."
Park Hill South High School student Meredith Doucette said motorists' honking of support "encourages me," and when people made obscene gestures or yelled at them for voicing their anti-war sentiment, "we just smile and wave at them." That, she said, strengthens their pacifist ardor.
For Kansas Citian Mary Vincent, seeing Friday's bombings and attacks on television Friday made her angry because she believes taxpayers' money should be spent on caring for Americans, not killing Iraqi citizens.
As she watched bombs landing on Baghdad's buildings and tanks trundling through the Iraqi desert, "I saw the money of America being blown up and being driven past me. My daughter is a teacher in Chicago. I saw her salary being blown up. I saw money for health care, job training, job opportunities, being blown up in the air. I don't want to just sit home and watch that without coming out here and letting people know I feel about it."
To reach Diane Carroll, call (816) 234-7704 or send e-mail to dcarroll@kcstar.com.
To reach Lynn Franey, call (816) 234-4927 or send e-mail to lfraney@kcstar.com.
Undated-AP -- People who support the war against Iraq want to share the stage with anti-war demonstrators.In Lincoln, Nebraska, more than 200 people waved American flags, sang, cheered and prayed outside the state Capitol today. Several veterans and people with relatives fighting in the war were in the crowd.In Texas, about a dozen people camped out in Austin near the state Capitol gates to protest the war. (In texas)But, yellow ribbons began appearing across the state as a show of support for U-S troops.In New Hampshire, the House and Senate approved resolutions backing U-S troops in Iraq.During the session in the upper chamber, some senators closed a window because of a noisy anti-war demonstration outside. Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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