Posted on 09/29/2006 7:32:58 AM PDT by Albion Wilde
Washington, DC, September 22, 2006-- It's a balmy Indian summer evening, and all four corners of the entrance to Walter Reed Army Medical Center are swarming with nearly 70 FReepers and a Freeping dog. A man in a red "Free Republic 10 Year Anniversary" ball cap takes in the scene from his vantage point near the Mother of All Banners on the northeast corner. It is Jim Robinson, Free Republic's founder, who flew in from California for this special Free Republic weekend in the nation's capital for honoring the troops.
Since JimRob was here last year, the Code Pink demonstrators have been pushed away from the main gate by DC Chapter ingenuity, so his view across the street is of the main gates of Walter Reed completely surrounded by FReepers with troop-honoring flags, signs and banners, large and small. This Friday-evening FReep, now in its 75th week, has moved decisively away from countering Code Pink to its present focus on cheering the military and their family members who come and go from the gates. And the number of young people has been steadily growing. Tonight, there are dozens.
One of the college men commented, "We support out troops in spite of being from a very liberal campus. Many of our professors try to indoctrinate the students every day. For example, in my Logic class, virtually every example of logical fallacies given by the professor is about President Bush or the Iraq War. Another professor advertised an Iraq war protest in class. Academia is supposed to be a forum for many ideas, but it has become a platform only for the left."
Attendance at this week's FReep has only been surpassed once, in August of last year when Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity provided publicity. Tonight, FReepers from around the country flocked into the Capital for Support the Troops Weekend, for a total of 68 FReepers and one canine patriot.
FReepers present were: Albion Wilde, AllRightAlltheTime, ArmyMarineDad, ArmyMarineMom, BlueBlade, BufordP, ConcreteBob, Danang68, DoozerDude from Ohio, Exit 148 from New Jersey, Fraxinus, Freeping_In_Silence, Gretchen15, GunsAreOK, I Love W, Jimmy Valentine's Brother, Jim Robinson from California, JoyJoyfromNJ, Justanobody, Kristinn, Leofl from Texas, Pasquale from New York, whose son is with the Army in Afghanistan, Sasha123, Sensei Ern, Snoopy (canine FReeper from South Carolina), Syncro from California, Taco Mamma, TFroatz, tgslTakoma, 3D-Joy, Tom the Redhunter, Trooprally (Mr. & Mrs), and Upchuck from South Carolina.
GW students included: Alexis, Bill, Brand, Brandon, Chris, Claire, Dan, Gary, John, John H., Keith, Laura, Luke, Peter, Sergio, Stephanie, Tom and Will.
Lurkers and friends included: Barbara, Bill from Maryland, Brittany, Brynne, Cordelia, Ethel & George, Eva, Jerry from Ohio, Tierra, Tony from Ohio, Tyler, Olga, Protest Warriors Matthew and Russell & Joyce from Pennsylvania, and Korean War veteran Tim.
Protest Warriors were out in force:
WRAMC Garrison Commander Puts In a Good Word
TgslTakoma reports that as she was standing on the southwest corner with JoyJoyfromNJ, a car with an officer in it emerged from the gates and sat for a moment at the traffic light. "I waved," she continued, "and said, 'Thank you for keeping us safe.' He rolled the window down and said, 'I want to thank you for being here. I'm the Garrison Commander. It means a lot.' "
As the FReep began to wind down, Jim Robinson, asked to comment, added, "How grateful I am for all the servicemen who work so hard to preserve our freedom. They sacrifice so much. God bless 'em!"
But no FReep would be complete without a little good-natured prank or two at the Pinko's expense. This night, as the Pinkos huddled to confer at their prompt nine p.m. quittin' time (well before the buses arrive back at the gate containing soldiers they say they support), about 20 of the young people descended as a group to stand at the perimeter of the Pinko area. The students just stood there, at about fifteen yards, and gazed at the Pinkos, who were bunched together with their backs turned. Suddenly aware that they were under scrutiny, the Pinkos began to look over their shoulders at the students, who spontaneously set up a chant:
Again, no problem for the Pinkos.
The FReepers stayed around to wait for the buses and cheer our brave men and women of the U.S. military!
For a complete library of former Walter Reed FReeps maintained by BufordP, click here.
Bump and prayers too Albion
You bet. See you in a little while.
You are all in our prayers. We are so grateful to you all for doing this.
A picture worth a thousand words.
Woo-hoo, brought the big guns in! Sorry I missed that. Thanks for keeping me pinged.
BTTT
It's a pleasure, as always. I'm looking forward to the AAR for tonight.
How come the DC FReepers ROCK so hard?!?!!
Me & my dog totally wish we could come FReep w/you some Friday. Keep up the most excellent FReeping, and thanks for posting the pic's & the reports.
;)
What a great post! Thank you for the ping.
B U M P
B U M P !!!!!!
Thank you Albion. Snoopy (aka The Navigator) and I had a blast FReeping last Fri night.A memorable event. Wish we could get to DC more often.
Thanks again.
. . . but what is the left? It is the party ofI am very grateful to you all for going out of your way say thanks.objectivearrogant journalism. It is the conceit that criticism is superior to action, the conceit that second guessing is superiority over people who are responsible for taking action and therefore can always be second guessed.The left is the attitude that second guessers should rule the world. Of course when a second guesser actually attains power, s/he is extremely risk-averse for fear that s/he will be second guessed her/himself.
That is why, although the left seems to be all about big government, the left despises the police and military which are the sine qua non of government. By actually doing things which are important, the police and military - like the oil companies or any other corporation - threaten the superiority of talk over action, making themselves targets for arrogant journalism. And journalism's felow travelers, variously labelled by journalism "liberals" or "progressives" or "moderates."
Thank you for your service.
Looks like a great FReep. I grew up right around the corner (Dahlia St) and wish I was there now to join you guys.
Fantastic work, Washington-area FReepers!
You guys Rock!!! I will be going to New York around New Years, and would very much like to drop by DC and FReep the corner with you guys. Do you have a ping list?
awesome thread and great to see so many kids joining!
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