I just arrived home from the Gathering of Eagles in Denver, and decided to immediately do this first after action report. I'll add in the rest of the videos and pictures later, but I just had to share this first clip of the Eagles saying the Pledge of Allegiance.
A little girl who was at the Anti-War rally kept staring at us during the rally. I could tell she wanted to join our group.
"They did great. How come they got shirt sleeve weather?"
It was 77 degrees, and I got my first sunburn of the season from standing out on the sidewalk dressed in black for two and a half hours. My arms are all burned.
It was worth it though.
Here are several observations:
I showed up first about 11:45 AM and as I was walking up to the capitol, a couple of young teens saw my gathering of eagles poster and started heckling me. They knew about us and about our counter.
About twenty people were milling around up on the steps.
Dale from Littleton showed up and we talked and demonstrated together for about fifteen minutes when two bikers showed up. This husband and wife team both help at funerals for our soldiers, protecting them from psycho demonstrators who use funerals to make political hay.
The four of us held hands at about 12:15 and said a prayer together. I asked Heavenly Father to keep us safe, to be with out soldiers and to bless out nation.
Then the four of us just stood together, chatting with anyone who came up to talk to us.
A few minutes after the prayer a self identified daily camera reporter asked if he could interview me for the on line video version of his paper. I said sure and we started in. He quickly realized that we were demonstrating against the demonstrators and his questioning became very strange. I have contacted his editor to tell her of this bizarre behavior on the part of a non-biased reporter.
Here is our email exchange:
First email I sent:
From: Jenny M Hatch [jenny@naturalfamilyco.com','','','')">jenny@naturalfamilyco.com]
Sent: Sun 3/18/2007 10:51 AM
To: Falor, Jennifer
Subject: Denver Anti War Rally
Hi,
I met your daily camera reporter yesterday in denver at the anti war rally. I was wondering if he had the guts to put his report up on the internet for everyone to see. I have not noticed any reporting yet.
As a citizen journalist I have found the time to report what I observed, and plan to go into much more depth tomorow in my after action report.
Here is the beginning of my report:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1802519/posts\?page=7
Please note post number 8 in that thread. It mentions a little about your reporters interview of me.
Jenny M Hatch
Her Response:
On Sun Mar 18 13:32 , 'Falor, Jennifer' sent:
Hi Jenny,
The person in those photos is not a Daily Camera reporter.
I did have a University of Colorado intern at the rally this weekend filming video, but that picture didn't look like him either. Maybe he had a friend or colleague with him. If it was my intern, I'm sorry if you felt offended or led on. The internship is a learning experience. If you'd like to tell me more about how you felt like you were baited (what kinds of questions did he ask, etc.), I would be happy to talk with him about the situation.
Anyhow, the video will be posted on the Web site for the anniversary of the war, which I think is Tuesday.
-Jennifer Falor
online editor
My response back:
Jennifer,
Here are two identifying photographs of your reporter interviewing me. They are attached.
I asked him who he worked for and he said he was a reporter with the Daily Camera. I don't care if he was an intern or a reporter, he was representing your paper, and I gave him a copy of our gathering of eagles flyer with my business card stapled to it.
To make things fair for your readers, at least to hear the answers we gave in context with the questions, all we would ask is that he include his questions in the video, so that the viewers themselves can decide if he was baiting or not. The questions felt one sided to me and that is why I stopped being interviewed. However, he talked to two other members of the Gathering of Eagles for quite a while and we would appreciate those videos to be put up as well, with questions included.
A reporter from the Denver Post interviewed us, but nothing appeared in that paper today, despite columns of text, and the nine news team was so close to us I could have tapped them on the shoulder, but they kept their backs turned to us....although we had seven veterans show up to lend support to our Gathering of Eagles.
NPR had this to say about the Washington March:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=8976792
Even the reporter from NPR realized the coverage was one sided. Why was that? Thousands of vets and their families counter demo the socialist peace niks and nobody thinks it is news worthy?
I think you guys can do much better, and I would like to see those videos, all of them, posted on your web site, with linkage from your front page to give equal time to the citizens in Colorado who support our president, the troops, and the war.
Jenny
Here are copies of the two photos I sent to her:
I think the "not my reporter" line of argument is hilarious...
After the Hills and I were interviewed the reporter skeedaddled, and soon after the interviews, the moonbats arrived marching up the street. They had started their march at the Halliburton building, and then marched up to the capitol. They were a noisy freak show of a demonstration. I did not take pictures, simply because I don't want to waste space on my blog and here giving them the time of day.
But we had a whole contingent of reporters taking pictures....except for the Daily Comrade reporter, and a couple of passersby, we were not photographed or videotaped by anyone but ourselves.
A reporter from the Denver Post came down to talk to us for a few minutes, but nothing appeared in sundays paper. I'm curious to see if she prints anything for the anniversary of the war.
When the rest of our group showed up we said the pledge of allegiance together as shown on the video. Then we all talked to a variety of people, mostly young teens, who came down to our group to exchange political views. Our letherneck marine, PitBull, was the most effective debater in my opinion.
At one point a young vet chanced by the demo and he was curious to know what was going on. Once he realized what the anti war people were saying, he went a little nuts, yelling at them, shouting and he was really angry. When he ran up to them to yell some more a whole big group of them came down to talk to him - swearing and shouting. A denver cop in a very large SUV drove right up onto the sidewalk and put his car in between our group and the teens, who frankly looked like they were mostly about 17 years old.
After Pit Bull talked to these kids for about a half hour, I decided it was time to go. Had to attend my daughters soccer game. I asked our group if we could sing the pledge together. So we all belted it out amidst the laughter and guffaws of the socialist youth who were looking on.
Then two vets walked me to my car, and it was over.
Just a final thought. I have gone to these various Denver events for years, and I can easily say that this one was had the least amount of people. No more than 300 total, and after the march, the numbers broke off considerably. As soon as the speakers started voicing the various empowerment messages, people left in droves...walking right past our group....sort of staring at us, and then walking on.
A recognized a few old timers, who have shown up to several of these events....the ones I mentioned before in my organizational thread. They looked drunk like usual, and were some of the most vocal and verbally abusive.
For those who were wondering what the heck Kim Jung Il's photos and messages were doing at these rallies, I would just ask you if it makes sense to have the great leaders propoganda at an event he pays for himself?
You can bet he and Sadaam both shoved money at these demos hand over fist the past few years...and now that Sadaam is dead, I think we can safely say that North Korea is the big funder of these commie demos in America. How would it be if a few investigative reporters pulled a Lisa Ling on the Anti War movement. Went underground, followed the money train from ANSWER to WORLD WORKERS all the way back to North Korea...and then published it for all the world to see.
The only people I know of who have even suggested a tie are writers at Front Page Magazine.
But the truth will come out as it always does, and the truth will set the world free.
The Denver Post was scratching its head on sundays cover story....wondering where all the people have gone?
I believe many Americans are on the fence right now, confused by all the rhetoric. But I think most Americans will be grateful when the war is over and our side has held the terrorists accountable for their crimes and democracy is flourishing in Iraq and Afganistan.
As I was talking to one person at the rally I suggested the idea that five years from now I would be able to go as a tourist to downtown Baghdad and drive down George Bush boulevard to a wonderful 5 star resort.
His jaw dropped.
Jenny Hatch
