War protesters changing sites but not their position

CRAWFORD, Texas - (KRT) - Although Cindy Sheehan has left the anti-war vigil she began two weeks ago near President Bush's ranch, demonstrators who rallied around her moved ahead Friday with efforts to set up a second camp as counterdemonstrators moved in.

Sheehan, whose son was killed last year in an attack in Iraq, left her camp Thursday for Los Angeles to be with her mother, Shirley Miller, who suffered a stroke. Other war protesters here said they are not deterred by her absence.

"We've been here since the beginning. We're staying until the end - when Bush goes home," said Jodie Evans, co-founder of the women's anti-war group Code Pink. "The story doesn't change with Cindy being gone."

Sheehan wants a second meeting with Bush to ask him to remove U.S. troops from Iraq. A couple of months after Sheehan's son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, was killed April 4, 2004, she and her family, along with other families of slain military personnel, met with the president at Fort Lewis, Wash. Since then, she's become the center of the anti-war movement and the focus of international attention.

Dozens of demonstrators gathered Friday at a noon prayer vigil, the first without Sheehan since she arrived Aug. 6. Camp organizers expect about half of the people camped in a ditch along the road to Bush's Prairie Chapel Ranch to relocate a couple of miles away to a more secure site next to a Secret Service checkpoint.

In moving down the country road, the demonstrators are also moving up - out of the ditch and under a huge white tent. On Thursday night, the demonstrators pitched the eight-peak canopy, replete with 12 electric lights, dozens of tables and a pair of four-burner gas stoves.

The new camp is paid for by donations to Gold Star Families for Peace, which Sheehan helped found, and other anti-war groups.

The demonstrators accepted the offer to move to the 1-acre parcel of private pasture after complaints from neighbors.

McLennan County Commissioner Ray Meadows is still seeking relief for the protesters' neighbors that would restrict parking - and camping - along some of the roads near the president's ranch.

In the meantime, he said, he's not sure the new protest campsite will ease any of the congestion.

"It's going to move this mess down to another mess," he said, surveying the old campsite.

Friday morning, several dozen backers of the president met for breakfast on the edge of town to gather messages of support written on bed sheets.

Billed as the "I Give a Sheet Vigil and Prayer Rally," the event foreshadowed the likelihood of more counterdemonstrations over the weekend.

"We're not here to antagonize them at all," said Valerie Duty, an organizer from Waco, Texas. "We're only here to show the president and our troops that there are people that do care."

She expected the war protesters to carry on, even while Sheehan was back in California, Duty said. "We're just going to have to carry on, too."

The president, who's been relaxing this week at his ranch, plans to bike Saturday with cyclist Lance Armstrong. But the event at the ranch is a private ride. And Bush has no public events scheduled until Monday, when he will address the annual convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Salt Lake City.

Must be hell to be a old hippie;)

We're staying until the end - when Bush goes home,"

Um. Jodie. Unlike your wonnerful Clinton who is homeless, he & the little woman, President Bush DOES have a home. He's sitting in it, right now.

Hippies, Sheehanites, Traitor, Treason, Democrats, Traitor/Treason Liberal left-wing Scum, Sorosites, Mooreidiots, MSM, etc., it's over, Cindy "The America hating Traitor/Treason Witch is now the most hated woman in America. You screwed up big time with this one, and put another nail in the coffin of both the vermin Democrat Party and the mainstream media.

Interesting. I wonder if Lance is going to tell the President what Armstrong was quoted as saying in USA Today:

"The biggest downside to a war in Iraq is what you could do with that money," [Armstrong said.] "What does a war in Iraq cost a week? A billion? Maybe a billion a day? The budget for the National Cancer Institute is four billion. That has to change. It needs to become a priority again. Polls say people are much more afraid of cancer than of a plane flying into their house or a bomb or any other form of terrorism. It is a priority for the American public."
The link to the article is: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/cycling/tourdefrance/2005-07-24-armstrong-mission_x.htm

LOL---my thoughts exactly when I read this article...

He is speaking in front of Veterans of Foreign Wars on Monday...remember last year...he and Kerry had the battle of the speeches...lol

Gosh, I wish Pres. Bush would get up and give a speech that puts he and Rummy and Cheney on the offensive with the terrorists AND the groups that are with Cindy Sheehan...

He needs to tell them that they have NO idea what this country would be like if Iraq had been left alone, or if the troops are brought home now...

I want him to be stronger in his rhetoric about how OUR troops are giving 110% and are winning, but unlike a war with a "front", he and the intelligence community have other indicators ....

and then, he can tell the dems and the MSM to shove it! lol

Thats correct, the libs are not changing their position. They are still in the "fetal" position with regard to the war on terrorism. Hehehehe.

"We've been here since the beginning. We're staying until the end - when Bush goes home," said Jodie Evans, co-founder of the women's anti-war group Code Pink.

Where did she get her absolute moral authority?

"War protesters changing sites but not their position"

They must mean as in lying flat on their arses on a mangy, moldy sleeping-bag... smoking a blunt, and listening to harry belafonte on an Ipod.

LLS

You notice there is hardly any news about here mother's stroke. What hospital is she in? How bad is the stroke, when will she come home, what is Cindy doing for her, how many hour is she spending with her per day?

All of these things and more should be coming out on the news and they should be making much more about how this POS rushed to her mother's side etc. Makes you wonder doesn't it?

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