Posted on 08/18/2005 1:57:39 AM PDT by Jim Robinson
Edited on 08/18/2005 3:43:02 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Move America Forward will be conducting the “You Don’t Speak for Me, Cindy” caravan beginning next week. It will feature military family members who have loved ones serving in the war against terrorism in Iraq or Afghanistan. The delegation will be led by Deborah Johns of Marine Moms. (Her son has served in Operation Iraqi Freedom).
Main caravan leaves from San Francisco, California on Monday, August 22nd. Other caravans will depart from around the country. If you want to be part of a caravan, email us with your name and location you will depart from and we will include in our caravan coverage so people in your area can depart with you.
Everyone arrives in Crawford, Texas for a giant “We Support Our Troops AND Their Mission” Rally on Saturday, August 27, 2005.
If you have a loved one serving in Iraq or Afghanistan and would like to join the caravan please contact Move America Forward’s Robert Dixon: Robert@MoveAmericaForward.org
Good for you! Hope you have a great time. Please let us know.
Well, ha ha, I was the only one but that meant I got to meet (almost) everyone and spent some quality time with the Caravan... woo hoo!
They almost kidnapped me to go along ... oh, how I would love it! Impeach98, sorry I didn't meet you, but I was the lady standing in the KABC driveway waving at you all (10 vehicles) as you left for Buena Park.
I met Syncro, PrayingSoldiersMom, a gal going to school in Sacto, some guys from MAF, Deborah Johns, Sheila, radio host Al Rantel, and... the one and only Jim Robinson!!
Syncro properly introduced me to Jim and, yes, Eternal Vigilance, it was an honor to shake his hand. Wow. We later had a very pleasant chat in the parking lot before the caravan headed out. I caught them up on the news of the day which they had missed. LOL.
Soon after I arrived at KABC, I met PrayingSoldiersMom, a most wonderful American woman, and the next thing I knew she was taking me into the studio with her so, Brad's Gramma, I was in the studio with Deborah and PSM when they were being interviewed by Al Rantel.. They were SUPERB, IMO.
Thanks for the report.
Wish others had joined you in greeting the caravan but being the only one must have been great. Aren't they all wonderful people.
Did you get any pictures?
Deborah was doing a TREMENDOUS job!
It was a pleasure to meet you!
great idea guys !!!! good job.. good job !!!
I was so excited! And honored! They are super people!
I came from work and didn't have a camera, boo hoo. Syncro was taking some photos, though, said he'll post them in a day or two...
Funny thing: There was a TV crew in the radio studio, so the military moms were on TV and radio at the same time. LOL.
August 23 report (KABC):
"I met Syncro, PrayingSoldiersMom, a gal going to school in Sacto, some guys from MAF, Deborah Johns, Sheila, radio host Al Rantel, and... the one and only Jim Robinson!!
Syncro properly introduced me to Jim and, yes, Eternal Vigilance, it was an honor to shake his hand. Wow. We later had a very pleasant chat in the parking lot before the caravan headed out. I caught them up on the news of the day which they had missed. LOL."
Forgot to include you in my caravan ping... yikes!
We applaud your efforts and updates, and please pass on my thanks to JimRob as well.
Welcome aboard, AngelLady, and please give our sincere thanks to your son - LCpl Perry - for protecting our great nation!
"Well, ha ha, I was the only one but that meant I got to meet (almost) everyone and spent some quality time with the Caravan... woo hoo!"
Outstanding! I'm sure your presence meant the world to them, and it sounds like you had a really good time. Thanks for going, and thank you very much for your report!
Saddam had training camps for terrorists off and on, he was funding terror directly in Israel at 25k a bomber, he tried to assassinate one of our ex-Presidents.
Just on that stuff alone you get a good start of the nexus you were looking for RC.
You are MOST welcome; I have to tell SOMEONE!! LOL. Will you be able to meet them at any point...?
I especially like the part where they stop in Cindy's home town.
Nice to see this kind of response. Probably wouldn't have happened just a few years ago because our only source for the news was the biased towards the left MSM.
Welcome to FR angelady!! And if I may, I'd like to invite you to stop by the FR Canteen where our military and their families are honored and virtually hugged every single day! Please thank your son for his service! And thank you to you for raising a fine young man!
I have a few photos from yesterday's event in Burbank, CA, but no way to post them here that I know of. Is there a way to post them to this site without having your own web site?
I always sing this stanza when our national anthem is sung. Easier to understand, and clear in our beliefs, isn't it?!
I thank God for you and your wonderful son. Mothers like you are a treasure and a gift for us all. I will pay for your son and all others daily... and encourage others to do so.
Thank you, please come over to the Canteen and post that. Will you?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1469392/posts?q=1&&page=467#467
To post pictures, you need a place to host them. Some ISPs give a limited amount of space for hosting a web page or images.
Also, you may be able to use Webshots. I use Fotki but they charge a small amount yearly.
You will soon have FReepmail. :)
Would love to see some photos.
One thing that struck me today, as the President was giving his speech, was the fact that in the last 4 years of war, in Afghanistan and in Iraq, we have not lost as many Americans as we did in one day on Sept.11, 2001.
Cindy is protesting the wrong folks.
Gary Qualls is not the only one at odds with Sheehan.
We were present at the Vacaville caravan two days ago. From the articles in the Associated Press and in the San Francisco Chronicle, one would have thought there were two different functions.
A head count indicated over sixty individuals were present to meet the caravan.
Anxiously, while the group waited for arrival, there were two families present who were somber and anxious. One from Vallejo and one from Vacaville.
The Vallejo family was the brother of a solider hwo had fallen in Iraq. The Vacaville family was a father of a fallen Marine. On March 23, 2003, Marine Lance Cpl. Michael J. Williams, 31, was killed in action during a firefight around Nasiriyah, Iraq. The Yuma, Ariz., native was reported missing in action March 26 before the military changed his status three days later to killed in action. He was based in Camp Lejeune, N.C., and assigned to the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade. He was engaged to be married and proposed while on a ship in Kuwait, prior to going into battle.
One could tell that the mention of Sheehan brought up emotions for the family members. Hands visibly shook as the father, Joseph Wilson, put a photograph of his son and a folded flag in front of it, upon the hood of his truck.
Hugs of support were given to him and to one another from members of the group, mostly families of soldiers, former soldiers and those who have been personally touched by the War in Iraq.
By those who were in the same hometown as Cindy Sheehan and who don't agree with her statements that what our sons and daughters were risking their lives for was a "noble cause," that the U.S. get out of Palestine (echoing the sentiments of terrorists)and the partisan political statements she continues to make. "Our government is run by one party, every level," Sheehan continued, "and the mainstream media is a propaganda tool for the government." Sheehan also called the 2004 presidential election "the election, quote-unquote, that happened in November."
They didn't agree with Sheehan's support of Lynn Stewart, who was charged with aiding and abetting terrorists who have been trying to kill our U.S. citizens and our children fighting overseas.
Sheehan said she considered Lynne Stewart her Atticus Finch, the lawyer who defended an innocent Black man accused of rape in the book and film “To Kill A Mockingbird.”
“They’re not waging a War on Terror but a War of Terror,” she said. “The biggest terrorist is George W. Bush.” She claimed “it costs $66,000 to recruit one soldier, not including training, and $49,000 a year to house a prisoner, yet only $6,000 per year is spent to educate a child in California. (Recruiting costs are actually $15,000 per soldier, the cost of housing a prisoner in California for one year is $26,000.)
Sheehan continued, “9/11 was Pearl Harbor for the neo-conservatives’ agenda” and declared the U.S. government a “morally repugnant system.” Then she raged:
We have no Constitution. We’re the only country with no checks and balances. We want our country back if we have to impeach George Bush down to the person who picks up the dog sh-t in Washington! Let George Bush send his two little party animals to die in Iraq. It’s OK for Israel to have nuclear weapons but we are waging nuclear war in Iraq, we have contaminated the entire country. It’s not OK for Syria to be in Lebanon. Hypocrites! But Israel can occupy Palestine? Stop the slaughter!
Nowhere do the articles indicating media bias indicate that Casey reenlisted in the military, coming home for a period of time and encouraging many young Vacaville adults to enlist. That he was proud of what he was doing and he believed in what he was doing in Iraq.
We, in Vacaville, know the family, knew Casey and know of the difficulties the Sheehans had before and after Casey's death.
We knew of the John Kerry campaign coming out to visit them just after it occurred, as they tried to do with many other families. We knew of the referral to the Fenton Communications agency. Most of us know how she has been used.
Many of us comforted the family. Some of our troops, from Travis Air Force Base faced hostile fire to bring Casey home to his parents. Sheehan was grateful then. Now, she slams them for THEIR wishes that the way they honor their fallen be done in privacy.
Nowhere in the articles by the media on the Vacaville event, did it indicate families of other fallen soldiers were at odds with her or even existed.
Nowhere does it state that while individuals were in the parking lot, during the press conferences, vehicles drove by honking in support.
The story of Vacaville was basically ignored by the SF Chronicle and by the Associated Press, who tried to minimize what occurred.
And what occurred were the long time friends and neighbors of Cindy Sheehan standing behind her during her time of grief and standing up against her during her time of anger. Not only long time friends and neighbors, but families and parents of military members, loved ones of fallen soldiers and those who knew Casey and knew he was a hero.
Most frustrating are the times in which Casey died. In March of that year, John Kerry stood up for Al Sadr, the Muslim Cleric who called in his newspaper for the deaths of U.S. troops. Kerry stated in public radio that Al Sadr had a legitimate voice (to call for the deaths of American soldiers in Iraq) and that the military should not have shut down his newspaper. It was Al Sadr's people who killed Casey Sheehan. It was John Kerry who approached her and used her after that occurred. None of us can understand why Cindy Sheehan would embrace someone after that occurred.
So, the REAL story from Vacaville...the truth that the newspapers are not telling you.
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