Posted on 05/16/2006 11:51:33 AM PDT by Darnright
Off-campus protesters peacefully criticize Bush administration war policies.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told 240 cadets graduating from Virginia Military Institute today to be proud of their military education and to seek out challenges.
"Whether your service is in uniform or out, serve a cause worthy of yourself," Rumsfeld told the graduates.
With increased pressure on President Bush over the progress of the war in Iraq, Rumsfeld used his address to respond to some of that criticism. While the World War II D-Day invasion is now heralded as a great victory, Rumsfeld noted the June 6, 1944, landing in Normandy was also criticized at the time for a series of strategic and tactical errors, and for decisions based on imperfect intelligence.
"Actually it was undoubtedly both of those things," Rumsfeld said. "Which of course is the nature of warfare."
Rumsfeld spoke as a bit more than a half-mile away nearly 100 people gathered along Veterans Memorial Bridge on U.S. 11 north of Lexington to protest the Iraq war and the policies of Rumsfeld and his boss, President Bush. The protesters held signs that read, “How many lives per gallon,” and “Don’t spy on me” among other slogans.
Cara Pomeroy, a student at Southern Virginia University in nearby Buena Vista, attended the protest with her parents. A few participants held or waved flags, as others held signs critical of the Bush administration. "Up until this point, patriotism was reserved for the far right," Pomeroy said.
The protest ended peacefully and the activists adjourned to have lunch.
Virginia bump
Ah, a snot-nosed kid came over from what we used to call "Southern Semenary" to protest. Ain't dat cute.
}:-)4
I haven't seen 'Sem' referred to as "Southern Semenary" since .... we'll that'd be telling, but it was "back in the Old Corps, when we really had a Rat Line, BRs were not coming back from their MacNamara Fellowships to Southeast Asia, we drank beer in Docs, and First Class Privileges meant something....
Nope, I never attended VMI. I went to James Madison, but I grew up 30 miles east on US 60, over the mountain in Amherst. We heard a lot about Southern Semenary girls. :)
}:-)4
Southern Sem was purchased in 1996, or thereabouts, and made into a Mormon college. Here's the current mission statement:
Our mission is to prepare leader-servants in the workplace and the world, in the community and the church, and in the home. We serve faithful members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and welcome all who live our values. We accomplish our mission by providing the finest undergraduate education available in letters, arts, and sciences within a wholesome Latter-day Saint environment. Students, faculty, and staff at Southern Virginia University are committed to being academically or professionally accomplished, spiritually rooted, service oriented, and self-reliant. They embody our core values, which are scholarship, discipleship, accountability, enthusiasm, and refinement. Southern Virginia University seeks to establish a replicable self-sustaining model of higher education that can serve Latter-day Saints throughout the world.
I was there - never saw a sign of the protesters -
BTW my son Albert E. Arline was among the graduating Cadets. It was an honor to have SecDef shake his hand.
Watch the entire speech at the link below:
http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=4912212&nav=S6aK
Stereotypes make life so much more convenient, don't they?
i.e.- I get to assume you're a moron, since you don't care to spell check before you post your thoughts online.
^_^ Cara Pomeroy
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