OPERATION INFINITE FREEP: Support Our Troops Rally, after action report, Louisville, KY 4-05-03

[Drudge's minion]

COURTHOUSE RALLY
In what has become a weekly event, approx. 40 Patriots gathered Saturday with signs and flags in front of the Jefferson County Courthouse steps to show support for our great nation and the men and women serving in our armed forces. Although attendance was lower than last week’s impressive 200+ turnout (due in part to the absence of the Kentucky Freedom Cruisers), the enthusiasm of the crowd made up for that. After the opening prayer and reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance, Freeper BlueOneGolf provided an update on Operation Iraqi Freedom. Metro Councilman Doug Hawkins, who last week gave out the remainder of the more than a thousand “support our troops” yard signs he had printed up, spoke for a few minutes. Osi Onyekwuluje, candidate for State Auditor, was invited up to make a statement, and members in the crowd with family deployed to Iraq were encouraged to say a few words about their relatives. Finishing up with a round of God Bless America, the crowd agreed to meet up again on the 19th, and plans were floated for a Memorial Day freedom parade.

Apparently local peaceniks have come up with the brilliant idea of boycotting Kroger over a "Support our Troops and their Families" yard sign (!) the grocery chain has been offering in its stores throughout the area for a $5 donation. So much for "support the troops, not the war"…the Lefties are letting their true feelings known. BlueOneGolf bought 11 of these signs which were given away at yesterday’s rally. In related news, the anti-war folks are also boycotting this year’s Thunder Over Louisville air show, claiming it is an "insensitive celebration of militarism." It will be a sight to see if they show up with their signs at the event, as I'm sure the estimated 700,000 people who are expected to attend will not be very receptive to their presence.

DRIVE-BY FREEPING OF THE LOUISVILLE LEFTIES
Knowing the peaceniks were scheduled to march from the University of Louisville to Bellarmine University as part of their weekly "Progressive Peace March" yesterday, I showed up at U of L a little after 2 pm. Unfortunately BlueOneGolf had prior engagements so I was alone on behalf of the Patriots. The Lefties’ march happened to coincide with a "Big Brothers and Big Sisters Fun Day" being held on the lawn a few feet away, so with several dozen little kids playing nearby it was not exactly the best place for a confrontation. As the Liberals took to the streets, they were met by an escort of 6 Louisville Police Department patrol cars (presumably to stop tempted motorists from running them over ;) ). They proceeded to shut down each crossroad along Eastern Pkwy as they continued on their march, carrying their normal idiotic signs and banners, all the while beating on their pickle bucket drums. They did get a few honks along the way, but more than anything they seemed to irritate motorists.

Seeing as this was only my second Freep, plus the fact that the anti-war folks were mobile, I decided to stage a "drive-by Freeping" of the Lefties. I plastered my car windows with several "support our troops" signs I had picked up at the last several weeks' rallies, and placed one of the big Kroger yard signs in my backseat window, and made several slow passes right next to the marchers so they could get a real good look. Could have used the help of the Freedom Cruiser biker guys but I did what I could. I noticed that the Lefties had two of their own surveillance cars driving up and down the road with anti-war signs in the back windows, and one car would stop in the right lane and sit there for a few minutes which really irritated the people stuck behind them. I went and got some lunch then came back and made a few more passes. One of the cops kept looking nervously over at me each time I would come by, heh. After I felt I made my point, I decided to call it a day.

One thing I was pleasantly surprised to see as I was driving around was the sheer number of yards with "Support the Troops" and "Another Family Supporting President Bush & Our Troops" yard signs, as well as a few makeshift signs including "Stand Up For America". These numbered well into the double digits. I only saw one anti-war yard sign and it was much further up the road (said "Peace is Patriotic"... eww). Local station WLKY did a nice piece on the 11:00 news, sandwiching a brief clip of their march in between video from a pro-troops rally in Elizabethtown just south of here which drew several hundred people.

CAMPUS RALLY IN SUPPORT OF THE TROOPS
One last story...last Monday at the University of Louisville campus, in the very place where the peaceniks had been camped out all week in their protest tent city, a "support our troops" rally/concert was held which attracted about 100 people and enjoyed huge visibility as it was peak time for traffic in and out of the Student Activities Center. Two local rock bands played music for the first hour, followed by speeches by students and veterans the second hour. About a dozen peaceniks stood off to the side holding their usual signs, but at one point two or three of them dropped their signs and stood with the pro-troops crowd to get closer to the music, hehehe. I had to leave before the speeches began, but from what I was told, a few shouting matches broke out between the two sides and things got out of hand towards the end and the event unfortunately had to be shut down prematurely. (pic)

[Drudge's minion]

ping

Metro Councilman Doug Hawkins held the 101st flag with me this week... above pic is from last week's rally (going out to get a flag pole today :) ).

[skinkinthegrass]

bttt
THANKS, for the Ping...looks like you had a wonderful day... :)

[BlueOneGolf]

KY FReeper BUMP and PING! Great job D.m.!!! Sorry I couldn't FReep today. I think we've got a group of vocal Patriots who are ready to take it to the Lefties whenever they scurry out from their dark holes. I'll FReepmail you.

[Capitalism2003]

great job guys!:)

[BlueOneGolf]

Click the graphic below to see how you can support families of deployed military in need of financial assistance.

[SLB]

The manager of one of the local Kroger stores lives two houses from me. Last week I got him a sign for his yard from the local Republican party. "Support President Bush and Our Troops" He now has one of each. There were about 650 or so at the rally we had here in E'town yesterday. Go to the link to read about us: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/886332/posts

We had some good guest speakers.

[BlueOneGolf]

The graphic in the post works. Or just go to:

http://www.kentuckianacares.org

Sorry about that.

[BlueOneGolf]

Or this should work.