As for that anti-war protest, I thought that was dispicable what they did at the Dover AFB.
Honor roll for the afternoon gathering of eagles: Angelwood, tgslTakoma, Kristinn, and BillF.
We first set up across a street from Layayette Park and waited for the leftists' march. When they came into the park along a route a block away, we crossed the street.
We asked a U.S. Park Police officer at the edge of the park where we could conduct our counterprotest. Even though the leftists' permit was for a small part of the park, the officer said that we had to stay at the very edge of the park, at least 300 or 400 feet from the assembly of about 200 leftists.
Several of us were interviewed by various media. Many of the late-arriving leftists walked by us and we expressed strong condemnation of their cynical use of war dead and wounded to advance their radical agenda.
The leftists were sufficiently far away that it was hard to hear them at times. However, we did hear portions when they read the names of U.S. troops who died from the Iraq War. Not to honor them, but instead it was a ghoulish, propaganda use of those who made the ultimate sacrifice to liberate Iraq and defend America.
Leftists also read names of some Iraqis, supposedly civilians killed by the U.S. As the speaker read one Iraqi name, he said that the name represented 200 dead Iraqi civilians.
The highlight for me was when Medea Benjamin, leader of Code Pink, arrived very late and walked about 25 feet from us. I just happened to see her as I turned to my side.
At the top of my lungs I chanted:
MEDEA BENJAMIN YOU CAN'T HIDE,
YOU SUPPORTED SADDAM'S GENOCIDE
SHAME, SHAME, SHAME ON YOU
USING WAR DEAD AND WOUNDED FOR PROPAGANDA.
Angelwood and tgslTakoma added their own shouts as Medea, who turned to look at us, nervously smiled and waved from about 60 feet. (Unfortunately, Kristinn had to go back to work a couple minutes before Medea arrived.)
tgslTakoma repeated the brilliant question that Doctor Raoul asked strongly pro-Castro Medea yesterday: "Are you a peace activist or are you a revolutionary?" (See this thread for Raoul's one man FReep of Medea on Sunday.)
(When the leftists had gathered outside Walter Reed Hospital this morning, one leftist woman told me that Medea was in New York. We wondered if she was just hiding somewhere.)
After Medea had passed by, tgslTakoma turned on her megaphone. A Park Police officer told tgslTakoma that she could not use her megaphone because "shouting things that make them mad is against the law as inciting a riot" (my paraphrase). She turned it off.
The officer's explanation was absurd, but the leftists had a permit. It is correct to say that we don't have the right to block their freedom of speech (nor would we want to), but we were so far away that it was NOT reasonable to believe that our expressions of disapproval would be any more than a minor annoyance. At most, failure to comply with the officer might have been "disturbing the peace," not any incitement to riot.
We had numerous verbal matches. One of the most amusing was a guy who said he was a slave because he had to work to get food, shelter and clothing. This guy, who happened to be white, said he would post a definition of facism on FR.
The leftists marched out of Lafayette Park. We packed up and left.
Walking back to my car alone, I ended up across 17th Street from about 200 leftists. They had relocated to the side of the White House, apparently trying to get the WH guards to accept mock caskets with names of dead.
When the leftists stopped chanting momentarily, I boomed out:
SADDAM NEEDS A HUG
SADDAM NEEDS A HUG
SHAME, SHAME ON YOU
USING DEAD AND WOUNDED FOR PROPAGANDA
The two hundred, now stunned and unhappy leftists just looked across the street at me. I laughed and walked back to my car just before the parking meter expired.
=========
To: AGreatPer; bmwcyle; Doctor Raoul
I'm back home for a quick bite to eat, and then I'm off to stand against them at Lafayette Park. Kristinn, me and BillF stood on Georgia Avenue, first at the entrance to Walter Reed - across the driveway from a clutch of leftist-supporters wearing black and flaunting black wreaths.
And of course, the media was out there in droves, to cover the leftist blood dance.
The leftist photo-op was being set up halfway down the block - they set up a podium with amplified sound, in a hospital zone where our soldiers are trying to heal wounds.
The three of us walked silently down the sidewalk to the back of their gathering, and then we stood away from them, in the street between parked cars, and we held our signs in silent witness to their exploitation of our wounded and dead soldiers.
Kristinn's two-sided sign sign read: s1) Leave Our Wounded Alone, and s2) God Bless Our Troops
My two-sided sign read: s1) Leftists Exploit Military K.I.A. For Blood Dance, and s2) U.S. Troops -Mission IS Just & Good. God Bless Them.
BillF had several signs, but he'll have to tell you what they said, as I was preoccupied by the activities swirling around us.
I did have one self-described socialist peace protester who kept stalking me, trying to make me listen to his rant. I finally picked up my things and tried to walk away from him and he blocked my way, shoving me repeatedly. I tried to turn right and he pushed his guitar case into me, again blocking me. I turned the other way (towards the street) and he pushed into me again, placing his hands on me and shoving me backwards into traffic. I raised my voice very loud and called out for him to stop shoving me and to let me pass. Camera crews swarmed over to where we were and he continued to bodily block my passage down the street and shoved me several more times, with cameras rolling. It will be interesting to see if any of that makes it to broadcast.
I'll post more later but right now I have to inhale a sandwich and hit the road for round two, with Angelwood, BillF and Kristinn (if he can get away from work again).
Wish us well fellas (and pray that there is no more left-wing violence and intimidation).
35 posted on 03/15/2004 9:09:13 AM PST by tgslTakoma
======= END QUOTED POST OF TGSL ABOUT THE MORNING FREEP
I was partially blocked from seeing the leftist shoving tgslT, but heard her shouting at him to back off. I moved closer to her and saw that the leftist was bumping into her and blocking her way. I lowered my shoulder into this guy's chest and slightly pushed this guy away from tgslT, shouting at him to "stop pushing her," as a dozen cameras moved to record the incident.
Other leftists came and got the guy to back off as I shouted "STOP THE LEFT WING VIOLENCE!" (Credit Doctor Raoul for the slogan.)
I heard me shouting the slogan on one radio station when driving home from the morning FReep.
After the incident with guitar-case guy pushing tgslT, another leftist came over and touched my arm. I shouted at him to stop touching and back off. He did as cameras whirled.
Precisely to avoid such incidents (minor as they were this time), DC Chapter members always try to maintain a good separation distance of 5 or 10 feet when arguing. We make it a point to not invade someone's personal space, but the leftists are sometimes not as well-behaved.
At the morning FReep, one of the hard core leftists was a twenty-something guy who looked like Abbie Hoffman, way back when. I kept expecting him to push his bike into us or do something similar. Fortunately, he just spouted ultra-left wing "Black Helicopter" theories.
More than 250 peace activists and anti-war protesters from around the country marched to Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Del., on Sunday to honor U.S. troops killed and wounded in the Iraq war and to urge an end to the war. The base is home to the nation's largest military mortuary, where the bodies of more than 550 U.S. soldiers who died in Iraq have been prepared for return to their families. The war protesters were scheduled to march today in Washington.