Posted on 10/13/2005 5:32:17 PM PDT by Albion Wilde
Edited on 10/26/2005 9:50:47 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
WASHINGTON, DC 10/7/05— Neither rain nor dark of night nor suffocating humidity nor high winds nor slippery mud beneath their feet shall stay these FReepers from their appointed rounds. Not the umbrella of the FReeper next to you ducking under your umbrella to dump a heavy stream on your shoulders, nor your FoamCore signboards turning to mush and curling over, nor your fingers turning red and blue from the sign paint wetly streaking.
As long as Code Pink and their "hate-America" hangers-on hold their anti-war blood dance at the gates of at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Friday nights, the DC Chapter of FreeRepublic.com will be there, on the other side of Georgia Avenue, to support the troops – and their mission.
A handful of Pinkos show up on the southwest corner in pouring rain. Pinko total for the evening: 10.
Freepers AllRightAlltheTime, BMWcyle and Gadsdenman in the downpour, letting passing cars know who's who on Georgia Avenue. FreeRepublic total for the evening: 20, plus two visiting enlisted personnel.
A variety of leftist antagonists have no shame in supporting Code Pink's phony "vigils" at Walter Reed – aimed at trying to demoralize the wounded and their families.
Kevin McCarron (striped shirt), who used to hold the "Maimed for a Lie" sign, is still "infiltrating" Code Pink. Here, he believes that aborting the mission will "protect military families." What about Iraqi families? We thought socialists were all about global solidarity. Squeegee Guy on right. Crazy Backpack Guy (second from left) carping about Tom DeLay. Yeah, their "vigil" isn't political!
Code Pink Is All Wet
Even in these semi-tropical, driving winds dumping barrels of rain on the Northeastern states (storms so severe that ten people died from Maine to North Carolina), FReepers outnumbered the Pinko die-hards two to one. As usual, some our most dedicated counterprotesters, like Gadsdenman, Justanobody and ConcreteBob, struggled four hours or more through the downpour on wet roads and crazed traffic from to get there from great distances.
Who's that FReeper? It's Just A. Nobody.
The rain, driven sideways into our faces by high-velocity winds, clattered relentlessly on car hoods and drainpipes. Standing there with our signs while a mini-typhoon whooshed and splashed from the fenders of passing trucks was like standing in an automatic car wash, only without the soap.
Veteran JackDeth knows this gale-force rain is piddling – compared to boot camp.
Our Man in Washington observes that the Pinkos' wet "vigil" evening is going by in a blur.
Hoodlum91 gives Pinkos the cold, wet shoulder.
It rained so loud, you could hardly hear yourself think. A three-hour FReep is typically lively with sarcasm-spirited chants aimed at the Pinkos and chat about current events on our side of the street; but this evening, the atmosphere was louder than a rock concert. Cars and trucks peeling through sheets of water inches deep on Georgia Avenue meant we had to shout even to bicker among ourselves about the Harriet Miers nomination.
Any way you slice it, we got soaked.
BufordP, in weather that was bad to the bone, directs attention to bone-deep issues.
On the other hand, the Pinkos' cloying Sunday school songbook (Kum-ba-ya; This Little Light of Mine; and yes, that white yuppie standard, We Shall Overcome) was also mercifully silenced. It was so wet, an acoustic guitar would have warped to match their warped, hypocritical "bring the troops home now" philosophy – which when tried in Vietnam resulted in the deaths of millions whom the U.S. abandoned due to John Kerry and Jane Fonda's PR war on the homefront.
Pinko logic: Squeegee Guy (left) still ran out into the street tonight, wanting to wash passing cars' windshields even in the rain – and give the vintage 60s Vee-sign. Pinko (right) advertises a list of the socialist antagonists behind this shameful demonstration exploiting the wounded.
No. This time, veterans and loyal citizens will not be silent. The president said the War on Terror would take a long time, well before Congress approved the funding, and we have not forgotten that, nor the former administration's benign neglect of Al Qaeda's outrageous strikes in the decade leading up to 9/11.
"Bill from Maryland" didn't let a little rain dampen his steady presence.
If you need any further proof that Code Pink is mired in old-60s secular worship of communist dictatorships, this week they announced their gala holiday tour of Castro's Cuba, gleefully flauting the State Department order for Americans not to visit communist Cuba that was instituted under President John F. Kennedy. To the leftists, lacking an eternal God, every day is the first day of the rest of your life, and it's the first day of history, too; so they blame the tourism embargo on – you guessed it – George W. Bush. Deconstructionist (i.e. "Democrat") philosophy is part and parcel of why leftist universities give credence – and funding – to 60s radical terrorists and bombers. All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing. Will you join us this week from 6:30 to 9:30 at Georgian Avenue and Elder Sts NW?
PleaDeal, Hoodlum91 and Landry Fan demonstrate superior FReeper womanpower."
We want the United States to stay the course, finish the mission, and continue to uphold our word in Iraq.
Outpatient soldiers Oscar and Dustin, center, visited the FReepers. Andi of Andi's World military blog on right.
This week, two young enlisted men from the 10th Mountain Division recovering in Walter Reed outpatient facilities from IED wounds came over to talk with us. Now that Code Pink has started waving "Up Veteran Benefits" signs to try to disguise their antagonism towards military solutions to the decades-old problem of Al Qaeda attacks on Americans worldwide, we often wonder if passersby will recognize which side truly supports the troops; but these guys had no problem singling out the Free Republic side of the street. Here's a stunning testimony from FReeper and veteran ConcreteBob, who spent time talking with these two young soldiers:
[W]ith the rain pouring down, talking softly about what they had been through, hearing them say several times, "I just want to get back to my unit"; it was a humbling experience... 22 years old, and these young men were professional soldiers, WARRIORS in the truest definition of the word....The one thing Oscar stressed while we were talking is this: The Iraqi people want us to stay until all the foreign nationals who are disrupting the process are killed or captured or rendered ineffective. They are overjoyed our military removed Hussien. Oscar said he'd never heard the words "Thank You", "Thank America", and "Thank President Bush" more than in Iraq. ...everywhere they went, the Iraqi people would run up and offer thanks, food if they had it, and always, always were very grateful.... Dustin also said the agitators on the other side of the street "have no idea how the people inside feel about what Code Pink is doing to the morale of the families who have to pass through that gate on Friday evenings, visiting loved ones."
"...and these two young warriors kept thanking us," ConcreteBob's post continued. "They kept saying how much they appreciated us being on that corner. I didn't know what to say.'You're welcome' seemed a bit lame... They were adamant about the effect our presence on that corner every Friday night has on the morale of the wounded, and the staff at Walter Reed."
Andi, military blogger of Andi's World, echoed the "cluelessness" theme about the Left. "I had one of [the left supporters] email me recently," she said, "taking the attitude that people who do not have a loved one on the ground in Iraq have no right to support the mission." A military wife herself, she rejected this claim. "It would be like saying if you are attacked, but you have no relative who is a policeman, you can't call 911. Or you can't call a fire alarm unless you have someone in the fire department."
FReepers tell it like it is, even though it's too rainy for our usual three-sheet, 60-pound Mother of All Banners. How much more would the MOAB have weighed sopping wet?
FReepers captured the Pinko corner after their usual (early) quittin' time. To enlarge the picture, click here.
Our honor roll for the evening, in no particular order: Mr. and Mrs. TroopRally, Fraxinus, Our Man in Washington, Gadsdenman, Justanobody, JackDeth, BMWcyle and daughter, ConcreteBob, Landry Fan, TgslTakoma, PleaDeal, BufordP, Hoodlum91, lurker Joan, Andi, lurker Bill from Maryland, AllRightAlltheTime and Albion Wilde.
It's a Wet, Wet, Wet, Wet FReep
To sum up: It was wet. It was loud. It was painful, for those of us with barometric arthritis. Some of us were cranky. Our feet, hair and clothes were drenched, and our shoes, unless we dragged them through one of the many puddles lying in wait, were muddy. Many of our hand-made signs got wrecked. And it was dangerous. Driving home in the foggy, nerve-wracking downpour, I had to pull over three times to allow screaming emergency vehicles right-of-way to rescue motorists who had hydroplaned off the treacherous roads. One SUV had flipped completely onto its roof on a soft shoulder of I-95; I could only pray for the driver.
Still, it was a helluva FReep, without denying that we took a soaking. But muddy feet were nothing compared to what our volunteer troops undergo every day.
Ringing ears were nothing compared to artillery and explosives taking out little Iraqi children or your comrades in front of your face at any moment.
Soggy clothing was nothing compared to lugging body armor, a helmet, boots, a huge backpack and serious weaponry day after day in the 118-degree heat of Afghanistan and Iraq.
At the end of the day, facing off against the hate-America diehards, even in a drowning rain, was the least we could do.
Additional links:
Join CODEPINK for New Year’s in Cuba, December 27-January 2, 2006
Code Pink claims that "infiltrators" are responsible for their ghoulish anti-war signs: Anti-War Group Suspects it May be Victim of "Infiltrators"
Marc Morano's video report, showing Kevin McCarron at the Code Pink "vigil"
"Infiltrator" Kevin McCarron holds "Maimed for a Lie" sign June 17 Read the Free Republic thread documenting Kevin McCarron holding the sign; scroll down to 7th picture.
"Infiltrator" Bruce Wolf, weekly Walter Reed correspondent for Code Pink, holds the "Maimed for a Lie" sign on June 29 Here's the thread-- 6th picture, click to enlarge.
Last Week's FReep, Oct. 7, Week 24: HUG-SEEKING VETERANS REBUFFED BY CODE PINK
VFW Speaks Out Against Anti-War Protests at Walter Reed Army Hospital (Code Pink Is Pure Evil)
VIDEO: Code Pink Moonbats Assault Filmmaker at Walter Reed Hospital September 29, 2005
What a great report Albion! I feel absolutely drenched!
God bless all of you for a wonderful FReep and for standing behind the heroes at Walter Reed!
P.S. Great report, BTW!
Thank you, angels. The high point of our evening is when enlisted personnel come across the street to talk with us. We just shower them with thanks for their bravery and service.
And now a word from President George W. Bush spoken to his Troops today.....
"One of the tactics of the enemy is to shake our will.
Part of their strategy is to use the killing of innocent people to get the American government to pull you out of there before the mission is complete.
I'm going to assure you of this, that so long as I'm the President,
we're never going to back down, we're never going to give in, we'll never accept anything less than total victory.
It's important for you to know that; it's important for the enemy to know that, as well."
Thank YOU, A.Hun. The leftists make us look sooo gooood. It used to be just plain common sense to support the troops. Now, they want to split hairs: "Whine, we support the troops, but not their mission, not their Commander, not war, not anything that costs money except welfare programs for the able-bodied, whine, whine, whine..."
You guys ROCK!! Thank you!! One day I hope to fly out and join you. *HUGS!*
Thanks for the ping bahbah!!
Temple Owl, come on down! Philly's not so far away. I still run up to Philly to go to the Italian Market, visit friends, hang out at Kimmel Center, etc, and come home the same night.
I support the impoverished but not the war on poverty!
Taxman Bravo Zulu! to all who braved the rain to FReep those creeps!
And to you for a most excellent after action report and the photogs for the pics.
Ping
I meant it. You are. Godspeed!
TgslTakoma, as usual your photos are world-class. And BillF, what would DC Chapter do without your skills and dedication in working with the production of this report, and your excellent authorship of so many others.
Looking forward to your return to the reporting beat this week, if you can make it!
Yeah!!! {{{hugs}}} back at ya!
Come back, Appleblossom, come back!
The DC FReepers supply the excellence; Code Pink supplies the faux; the report writes itself.
It's nuttin' compared to our troops...
BUMPMaking me spit my soda on the keyboard again, Basil? LOL!
God bless you all.
Hope to join in on a trip east to Maryland, will be there visiting grandkids Oct 24th to Nov. 4th, are you planning a Freep Oct 28th?
I guess so since it's eveery Friday. Hope I can make it.
PING from the DC Chapter
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