Posted on 09/27/2005 5:40:07 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
...Kristinn Taylor, who organized conservative counter-protests all weekend for the Web site FreeRepublic.com, said Monday's arrests wiped out any positive impression the large anti-war demonstration might have made with politically moderate Americans.
"Plus, it motivates the terrorists overseas," Taylor said Monday. "They say, 'Look, the American people are protesting Bush at the gates of the White House.' "
On Monday, while Sheehan and others protested at the White House, 40 people were arrested at the Pentagon, where they briefly blocked two entrances to the building. They carried signs with photos of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians killed in the war and handed out flyers to Defense Department workers.
"We came with this very simple invitation to Pentagon employees to think about what they are doing and the war machine they are part of," said Frida Berrigan, a Brooklyn activist with the War Resisters League. "We invited them to do something different with their work and their livelihood."
But the discussion between protesters and Pentagon employees soon fizzled.
"Most of us were arrested very quickly by Pentagon police," said Berrigan, who was released within a few hours, but must return to Alexandria, Va., for a court appearance in December. "We think they heard us, and they saw us, but the conversation really wasn't able to happen."
Critics of the anti-war protesters noted that few top Democrats appeared at this weekend's demonstrations. But aides to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said the San Francisco Democrat, who opposed the war in Iraq, plans to have a private meeting -- but no photo opportunity -- with Sheehan in her Capitol Hill office Thursday.
"She's from the region. It's a courtesy meeting," said Pelosi spokeswoman Jennifer Crider.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
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(in-fighting among "grassroots" anti-war organizers)
Sept. 25, 2005 | Though yesterday was the first day a permit had been granted for an anti-war march past the White House since the Iraq War began, one could be forgiven for having low expectations for the protest.
To begin with, the event's joint organizers, International ANSWER and United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ), feud so regularly that they had to sign a pact promising not to attack each other until the event was over.
Then there was ANSWER's rejection of message control -- its leadership demanded that each of its component organizations be allowed to protest issues besides the war. Starting at 9 am, therefore, the Palestinian boosters took over Farragut Square with their own signs and chants, while bands of anarchists, affordable housing advocates, and Hugo Chavez supporters staked out intersections around D.C.'s downtown.
......In the frequently carnivalesque march that looped around the White House and downtown, one could spot just about any slogan imaginable, from the 9/11 conspiracy theorists to the simply unintelligible: Riding a green ladies' bicycle, a white-bearded hippie sanctimoniously coasted down a line of stationary D.C. cops, holding aloft a poorly lettered sign reading "WHY? (expletive deleted)." Four of D.C.'s finest double over laughing in his wake. "The city prefers the officers to keep a straight face," their sergeant said. "Sometimes that's hard."
Earlier that afternoon, a group of anarchists splintered off the parade route onto K Street NW, overturned newspaper boxes and, according to Jeremy Hammond, a self described "anti-capitalist traveler," controlled the street for two hours. The police arrested one or two, and chased the rest out on motorcycles. Later, Hammond says, the anarchists regrouped in front of a military recruiting office, and succeeded in being shot at with rubber bullets. (The skirmish has not appeared in any other published accounts.)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1491124/posts
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***....The crowd outside the White House included Buddhist monks in saffron-colored robes, who beat drums in support of the protesters, and young, black-clad anarchists who danced on an American flag and kissed one another in a symbolic "love-in" demonstration. ....*** - S.F. Chronicle
All the moonbats protesting everything were out. If we deduct all these nuts from the anti-war ranks, how many of the 9,000 or so were really anti war protestors?
"Earlier that afternoon, a group of anarchists splintered off the parade route onto K Street NW, overturned newspaper boxes and, according to Jeremy Hammond, a self described "anti-capitalist traveler," controlled the street for two hours. The police arrested one or two, and chased the rest out on motorcycles. Later, Hammond says, the anarchists regrouped in front of a military recruiting office, and succeeded in being shot at with rubber bullets.
That's amusing as well. Idiots.
""We came with this very simple invitation to Pentagon employees to think about what they are doing and the war machine they are part of," said Frida Berrigan, a Brooklyn activist with the War Resisters League. "We invited them to do something different with their work and their livelihood.""
*Snicker*
Uh, the PENTAGON? Hullo? "War Machine"? Yep, our nation's war machine IS the Pentagon! What a flock of loons.
The name Berrigan rings a bell. I seem to recall there was a looney-tunes leftie back in the 1960's named Berrigan who ran around protesting everything military. I wonder if there's any family connection.
Yes, none of the Pentagon workers had ever given a passing thought to the meaning of their chosen professions until this superiorly helpful liberal suggested that they think about it....
Phillip gerrigan's daughter..
Born in Two Harbors, MN, in 1923, Philip Berrigan was the last of the six sons of German immigrant Frida Fromhart Berrigan and railroad engineer, labor organizer and radical Thomas F. Berrigan.
Upon Phils parole in 1973, he and Liz were married in a formal ceremony; the church responded by excommunicating both of them. They settled in Baltimore, founded the intentional community Jonah House and began constructing what was, for them, a normal domestic life: They wrote, organized and had childrenFrida in 1974, Jerry in 1975 and Kate in 1981.
http://www.warresisters.org/nva0103-5.ht
Thanks for the info. Three generations of wild-eyed socialist America-hating radicals! You would think that a bit of normal DNA would make its way into the line at some point!
For accuracy, the Chronicle headline should instead read "Radical Left-Wing Activist".
How can anyone tell about the other people. The Vacaville Voodoo Lady is surrounded by nothing but the press. I bet she likes it.
""We came with this very simple invitation to Pentagon employees to think about what they are doing and the war machine they are part of," said Frida Berrigan, a Brooklyn activist with the War Resisters League. "We invited them to do something different with their work and their livelihood."
I bet some of the Pentagoners (and probably SEVERAL of us Freepers!) would like to 'invite' Frida to do something different with THEIR work and livelihood - rather than be paid anti-Americans!
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