Posted on 07/10/2006 2:07:39 AM PDT by Albion Wilde
Edited on 07/10/2006 2:33:33 AM PDT by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
WASHINGTON, DC, July 3, 2006--Although the 60s are long over, about 150 aging hippies and hangers-on relived them again over Independence Day weekend. They offered themselves up as tools of the CodePink-Cindy Sheehan leftism-for-profit machine, this time at the Ghandi statue at 21st and Massachusetts Avenue NW, and later, eating off the street in front of the White House.
The eating part -- go figure -- was a kick-off to Sheehan's "Troops Home Fast." She and several celebrites claim that they will forego food for two months to bring the troops home, so, worshipping themselves as they do, they will have a Last Supper as authentic as the Da Vinci Code. But I'm getting ahead of the story.
It's almost 3:00 p.m. on the eve of the nation's 230th birthday party, which should be a day of unity, rejoicing and gratitude for the robustly recovering economy, the absence of homeland terror attacks since 9/11 and the rapid progress towards a free Iraq. But it's just another horrible, terrible, really bad day for the embittered lefties arriving at a small triangle of lawn at 21st and Q Sts NW. There, the Embassy of India's statue of Ghandi will soon be reverently laid with drugstore bouquets by a white-haired, gnarled Flower Child in a pith helmet and saffron robe over her Code Pink duds. Some 4th of July picnic this is turning out to be.
The approaching Raging Granny Peace Brigade, Code Pinkos, Michael Moore wannabes and ambulatory schizophrenics are wearing sandals and Depends and those dumb little sun hats like John Kerry would wear, those upside-down canvas buckets with the downward brim, with white hair sticking out at random angles that has been cut with sewing scissors over the bathroom sink. They have come for yet another revival of the Vietnam war protests of forty years ago, minus the folk music and the wafting aroma of illicit herbs. Wow, man, pass the Lipitor!
Eleven of us FReepers wait quietly across the street (Kristinn, BufordP, Jimmy Valentine's Brother, Just A Nobody, 3D-Joy, Tom the Redhunter, Christopher Lincoln, Nina0331, ShadowMayhem, blogger CrusaderCoyote and myself). Most of us have signs, and ShadowMayhem is displaying the large flag that had draped the coffin of her grandfather, a veteran of WWII and Korea. With the Embassy of India behind us, the sidewalk is bustling with three kinds of law officers: Secret Service, Park Service and DC Metro police. Kristinn clears our permit with them.
We keep our secret weapon securely wrapped for the first 10 minutes of the lefties' demonstration, watching them manhandle American flags desecrated with black slogans like "NO ALLEGIANCE TO WAR, TORTURE & LIES" and listening to them chant,
There is a two-lane street between them and us. At last, we unfurl our secret weapon, a slogan adopted from WizBang, 13 feet long:
Whoa! Suddenly dozens of irate peacepersons swarm across the narrow street, laden with videocams, microphones, Hate-America posters, narrowed eyes and slack mouths dripping venom and bile. One of the more pitiable womyn skeeved at our sign and, eager to demonstrate Ann Coulter's Religion of Liberalism thesis, wailed, "Why attack her personally?" -- referring, of course, to her saint, Mother Sheehan, who incidentally has called our President "reckless, wanton, ignorant, arrogant, dishonest, careless and murder[ing]" and also "ten times the terrorist that Osama ever was":
About three moonbats per FReeper swarmed us, pretending to "interview" us for their cameras, asking such penetrating questions as, "BUSH LIED!" Derek Williams of WTOP Radio stuck a microphone into the face of 3D-Joy, who, although she is in a wheelchair from her recent devastating car accident, nevertheless FReeped with us all day, from the New York Times protest at noon, to this one, to the one that followed it at the White House. "They're talking about peace," Williams said, turning to 3D-Joy with the tone of a school principal discovering a crack vial in the locker room. "What do you say?"
"My husband fought in the Korean War and is buried in Arlington," 3D-Joy responded. "I am very proud of his service, and very proud of the service of all our young people in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Three rather nice-looking young men with expensive equipment tried to convince me they were just "seeking to learn more," and began grilling me and Jimmy Valentine's Brother. We easily refuted their jibes, explaining that fighting terrorism does not constitute "racism," that women in combat was promoted by Democrats long before Dubya took office, that you don't need to have a relative in the war to defend the mission nor a relative in the Fire Department to call them when your house in on fire. Their leader insisted that it was a "fact" that "someone" had told him that "most" of the troops are against the war, to which we laughed outright. "We go to Walter Reed every week," we replied. "And the men and women there are incredibly brave. Many of them, even after they have been wounded, want to return to their units. Where is your research? Where are you getting your so-called 'facts'?"
He then accused U.S. troops of wholesale rape of female troopers and Iraqi women. We challenged him to name a single group of people, anywhere on the planet, where rape does not occur, not letting him change the subject. Finally he said, and I'm not making this up, "Antartica."
We pointed out that his projection of cowardice onto our troops was wrong; that they are all volunteers, many in their 30s or more, and perhaps 95 percent of them are loyal to their mission. I further told him that if he were my son I would have some serious talks with him over the dinner table to re-educate him about his values, to which he responded in the most pathetic way imaginable: by implying that I was trying to date him (I am old enough to be his grandmother). Ewww!
Ladies and gentlemen of the news forum, I offer you the foregoing example of the intellectual development of today's anti-war movement. Thankfully, the law officers soon moved them back off to their permit area. We then shouted out counter-rants:
Kristinn was interviewed by Associated Press, and several other legitimate news organizations milled about, including two Middle Eastern ones, Al-Alam and Al-Hurra. But if the news reporting of the day is any indication, the media as usual focused only on the protesters and outside of a one-sentence quote from Kristinn by Associated Press and a small mention by FoxNews, our presence was ignored by MSNBC, Reuters, Yahoo News, UPI, or People Magazine, which did, however, feature the Sheehan hunger strike as Entertainment, alongside Chad Lowe's divorce from Hillary Swank because of substance abuse.
Starving for Attention, Part Deux
Next, the moonbat assembly marched several blocks to Lafayette Square, the park to the north of the White House that has been abused since the 60s by demonstrators.
Pennsylvania Avenue, blocked from through traffic since even before 9-11, separates Layfayette Square from the Iron fence of the White House; Code Pink laid a long, Barbie-pink plastic "tablecloth" directly onto the asphalt. Their crowd milled around waving their numerous flags, none of which was a regular Stars 'n' Stripes. We even saw a U.N. flag.
The tablecloth on Pennsylvania Avenue was definitely an innovation. In the 60s, these gals would simply have wallowed in the mud over in the park. Now they had to ease their fragile bones onto the pavement and sit Buddha-style to wait for their vegetarian curry, white rice and beans, and a long wait it would be. They first had to hear the PA system squealing in protest at the nasal whines of Code Pink leader Medea Benjamin, living corpses Daniel Ellsberg and Dick Gregory, arrested-developmentarian Cindy Sheehan and several other speakers, who attempted to whip their aged followers into a frenzy equivalent to, say, double-coupon day at the Safeway, or a win on both Bingo cards simultaneously.
They did achieve a fair bit of volume as they sang desecrated words to God Bless America. Milblogger Age of Hooper was there to capture the lefties sneering their disrespectful lyrics at a group of schoolkids in green t-shirts, apparently a choir who were touring DC. Little Green Footballs picked up Hooper's story and the video of the kids drowning out the moonbats with their own beautifully sung version of the treasured anthem. Afterward, they borrowed one of W04Man's "Victory in Iraq" signs for their group photo at the White House fence.
We piled on next, parading our STARVING FOR ATTENTION banner up on 8-foot poles high over our heads, circling their entire assembly so that people facing in any direction had to see it, including the speakers. You could hear the audible gnashing of false teeth as we completed our circuit and came to stand in a spot as directed by the DC police -- between the mass of lefties and the White House.
The anti-war speakers all had pretty much the same things to say as they had in the 60s, with a few new buzzwords plugged in: blahblahblahIRAQ, blahblahblahblahLIEDblahblah, blahblahblahNoWMDsblah, yadayadaOCCUPATIONyada, blahblahPEOPLEDIEDblahblahblah, yadaHITLERyada, blahblahCHENEYblahblahblahblah, blahblahblahRUMSFELDblah, yadayadaNEOCONsyada, blahblahblahTheUN, yadayadaRACISTyadayada, blahMURTHAblahblah, blahblahblahSARANDONblah, yadayadaPENNyada, blahblahMEME-ME-ME-ME, blahblahMEDICAREPARTDblah, blahblahTHECHILDRENblahblahblah...
So every once in awhile we would shout something, just to keep them on their toes:
Throughout the afternoon, dozens of very real American people drifted around us and stood with us, staring over at the demonstration and shaking their heads. A family stopped by with a bunch of kids, and the parents were a soldier's brother and sister-in-law. They are taking care of two small nephews while the dad is in Afghanistan. Just A Nobody and 3D-Joy gave the boys some red-white-and-blue pro-troop buttons.
A young man from Wisconsin, enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania, came and stood with us for awhile. An Australian woman stopped to say that her mother always taught her that the Americans saved the Australians at the Battle of Coral Sea, so Australians should stick with us...
Several active-duty servicemen and their vacationing families stood with us or stopped to thank us, going down our line to make eye contact, shake hands and say, "Thank you!" to each of us individually. An Illinois tourist with a huge backpack, having hitchhiked from Oregon to DC beginning on June 18, stood with us for awhile. A group of young women knelt in front of the banner to have their picture taken.
The Pinkos ate their "last meal" before their fast, which would be the next-to-last meal if you count the birthday party they were throwing for Cindy Sheehan that night. Hopefully, their gustatory sacrifice will last longer than their idol Saddam Hussein's. He announced his hunger strike -- and manfully sacrificed one lunch.
A hundred-fifty of them vs. a handful of us; but we stung like a handful of fire ants at a picnic. By the next day, Cindy Sheehan had co-opted our slogan on her own web site, oblivious to its satire.
Additional links:
CodePink images
D.C. Chapter's July 4 White House FReep
Sheehan: 'I'd Rather Live Under Chavez than Bush', Norah Gives Cindy Rough Ride
Cindy can afford to lose some weight. Gandhi however would probably puke.
What a bunch of phony baloney, eh?
bttt
I think they should hold their breath tll the boys come home.
freepmail
Do you realize that your act of protesting the protesters means that this cannot turn into 'another Vietnam'?
As long as troops know that SOMEONE supports them at home, morale will stay high.
Amazing. Nicely done.
I will credit you whene'r I use this.
LOL! and the girls, too!
We do indeed! That's why we get paid the big bucks!
NOT!
Just kidding. Blech, if I see her at all there, it will be to protest.
I wonder what her younger, surviving children think of Mom? Do they think of her at all? Do they remember her? Dad sure has a tough job now, lost a son and his wife's nation wide antics. Cindy, what do your children think of your world crusade? (cue crickets...)
I was @ the Independence Day parade on Constitution Ave. A group of about 50 people in pink came over, singing "Give Peace A Chance." US Parks Police was out in force, keeping them back.
One male protestor was arrested for trying to go onto the road and laying down to disrupt the festivities. An undercover cop hit about 50mph IN REVERSE to get to the guy! He was cuffed and thrown in the back of a paddywagon, along with a woman who seemed to volunteer to be arrested. I assume these people don't have real jobs, since they don't seem to mind having a criminal record.
As a side note, many bystanders (including myself) clapped for the police when the morons were cuffed.
ROTFLMBO! Great Freep, great after-action report!
It's only oppression if you don't deserve it. :-)
Brutally Average would be a great name for a band.
Patrons are asked to bring protein drinks and smoothies for the band!
Now that's a tour I'll buy tickets to!
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