September 12, 2009
Tea Party 9-12-09 March on Washington DC
Are you Taxed Enough Already?
If not, just wait, because Obama will Tax You More!
Yes, yours truly was downtown Washington DC today for the March on Washington
Starting at 9am, people gathered at Freedom Plaza, which is about two blocks east of the White House, and marched down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol building. Pennsylvania runs straight so you can see the beautiful dome of the Capitol building the entire route. Freedom Plaza was chosen as the start because is very close to two metro stops, and so people could just get right off the metro and then start walking down Pennsylvania Ave until they got the the Capitol. I forgot to note the time but think we got downtown at about 10:30.
Here is the scene down Pennsylvania Avenue
Yes, it was mobbed. You know, that dastardly right-wing "mob" that Nancy Pelosi and the others do dislike.
For anyone who needs it, here is a short explanation of the Tea Party Movement from Matt Kibbe, the President of FreedomWorks.org
The Tea Party MovementApril 15th was a historic day for those who love freedom. Hundreds of thousands of Americans came out to protest the massive government spending that is burdening our country with huge debt and future tax increases. From main streets in small towns, to county courthouses and state capitols, your voice was heard loud and clear. The sight of over 15,000 freedom-loving Americans protesting in downtown Atlanta was incredible. I was thrilled to be a guest at that "tea party" and was inspired by the local organizers who put it together.
People came out of their homes and into the streets to stand together and say "Enough!" But the liberal media and some pundits would have you believe only a few people showed up, and that those who did were not representative of the American people. Of course you and I know the truth and we know that April 15th, 2009 was just the beginning of something huge.
We must keep our momentum going, and keep the pressure on our elected officials as they vote on how much more of our money they will spend, and how much more of our money they will confiscate. Congress in session and the champions of big government will be working to pass a massive budget, a new national energy tax, government-run health care, and other policies that would cripple our economy even further.
Many of you have been discussing the next steps for the "tea party" movement. I've heard some great ideas about how to follow up on our historic day. I'd like to share some of those with you, and ask you to save the date for another big day: 9-12-2009.
FreedomWorks will be partnering with other like-minded grassroots organizations and local organizers to plan a massive, historic March on Washington on September 12, 2009 at the U.S. Capitol. Please sign up today, and keep checking our website for updates and travel information for the March on Washington. We have been inspired by your involvement in this cause, and we believe that we can work together to send a message to the politicians in Washington that we've had enough of the wasteful spending, trillion dollar deficits, bailouts, and taxes.
...Together, we can write our own history as a people, and take our country back.
Sincerely,
Matt Kibbe
President
FreedomWorks.org
On Friday John Hood had an excellent post over at National Review's The Corner on the background of some of the organizations behind the Tea Parties.
Here are some more scenes of us marching down Pennsylvania Avenue
In this photo you can see the Capitol dome in the distance
Turning 180 degrees, here's the view back along the march
This sign summed up much of the sentiment behind the rally, and was no doubt widely shared by all participants
Although of course everyone at the event was on the right politically and would describe themselves as conservatives, many would tell you they are disgusted with both parties. This doesn't mean that they'll vote Democrat, far from it, but that they're not going to give their time or money to the Republicans until they earn their support. I saw not a small number of Ron Paul shirts and slogans in support of his point of view, so there was not universal agreement on all things foreign policy, for example.
After arriving at the area in front of the Capitol, marchers spread out to find a place to stand or sit. Many sat around the Capitol reflecting pool or stayed back on the mall field, while others gathered around base of the Capitol building itself where a stage was set up.
Here are some folks at the reflecting pool, which is just out of view in this first photo to the right
Here you can see the reflecting pool clearly
We walked around the pool a few times. Here are some photos of the stage in front of the Capitol
Formerly of National Review, Byron York of the Washington Examiner was there
I briefly said hi to him and thanked him for his work. Very cool.
Update - here's his piece in the Examiner: Inside the 9/12 protest
And here are some other photos from around the event
During all this I was even interviewed by Japanese Public Television, if you can believe it. If I'd have been thinking I'd had handed my camera to one of my friends to photograph it, but of course that's the type of thing you only think of later. He asked me why I was there and I said because it was to send a message to President Obama that he needed to change his policies, most specifically on healthcare. The interviewer asked me a series of questions and in honesty I had the facts well in hand and so gave convincing, knowledgeable answers. Which means I won't be the guy they use when it gets broadcast.
Left v Right at Rallies/Protests
Having been to a dozen or so major rallies/protests in Washington DC (see Rallies and Protests under Categories at right) I think I can make some comments regarding similarities and differences.
The biggest similarity is that all are largely peaceful. If you don't make an effort to get in someone's face you can wear an opposing Tee shirt and walk amongst the other side mostly unmolested. I've done it among the most hard-core leftists and came out unscathed.
The biggest difference is in family-friendlyness. There are of course exceptions, but you simply do not see vulgarity on the right , whereas it is endemic on the left. The left loves curse words and sexual innuendos, which you see none of on the right. A very few of the signs that I saw today (and have seen at other conservative events) went too far, but they are a drop in the bucket compared to what you see on the left.
The other difference is that all of the signs that I saw today were originals made by their owners. At protests organized by some leftist group like International ANSWER they will have hundreds if not thousands of signs pre-made that marchers pick up at the event. Often their marches are a sea of the same signs. The reason they do it, I am sure, is to control the message.
We also said the Pledge of Allegiance today. Everyone I saw had their hand over their heart and was reciting it. You certainly won't see that at a leftist event.
The Signs
As stated above, I saw none of the vulgarity that is a regular feature of leftist protests. Not one F-word or sexual innuendo on a sign. I saw one sign that had a Hitler-mustache on Obama but that was it. There were several calling him a communist, and one placing him in company with Soviet leaders, but even these were few and far between.
The overwhelming majority of the signs were simply protests against Obama and the his programs. Few were inappropriate and attempts to say otherwise are just plain wrong.
How Many People?
Allahpundit over at Hot Air has surveyed some news reports and thinks it was at around 60 - 75,000, which sounds about right based on what I saw. That said, he is also surely right when he concludes that
I think using protest size as a gauge of popular sentiment is stupid -- witness the huge turnouts against the war in early 2003 when public support was in the neighborhood of 65 percent -- but it's a fun talking point, so let's have fun.
Update - There was a mistaken report by ABC News that there were 2 million people in attendance in Washington DC. This was quickly corrected, but unfortunately seems to have been taken as gospel by some on the right.
I'm also now thinking that were were more than 75,000 there based on some photos. In the end though the numbers at the rally don't mean so much as what is done afterwards. Which leads me to my next topic...
What Does It all Mean?
Following up on Allahpundit's comment above, this and other Tea Parties won't mean much if all the participants do afterward is go home and watch TV and listen to talk radio.
Get out of the house and get active in local politics, people!
Yes I know many of you have children who consume huge amounts of your time, and correctly so. And so not everyone can be terribly active. I do know lots of people though with children who still find time to do some volunteer work for their favorite candidate.
If you live in Virginia or New Jersey, please contact the candidates or the Republican Party in your state and volunteer some time or send some money.
Going back to that message from Matt Kibbe, here's some of what I left out above:
While you plan for the March on Washington on 9-12-2009, you should also remain active in this movement in your own community. Here are some ideas to do just that:1. Stay active and organized. Don't let the momentum fade away by becoming dormant. Keep the fire lit with regular meetings, and regular online communications.
2. Get some political training. Take advantage of institutions like FreedomWorks and The Leadership Institute that offer grassroots leadership training. Read books about organizing, and apply the best practices to your own group.
3. Recruit new people to the cause. Take advantage of the national media attention and find people that want to get involved in the movement. Focus on getting all of your volunteers to bring new people to each meeting, and motivate the new members to get involved in specific activities right away.
To which I would add
1. Find a candidate for public office you can support and contact him or her 2. Find your local Republican organization and contact them
Don't complain about your politicians or the GOP unless you are involved in trying to change things.
Marching is all fine and good, but unless you go out and campaign, try and persuade others that your cause and candidates are right, the Tea Parties will have little effect.
All of my Photos for that day are on my Photobucket site. Feel free to use with attribution.
Other Coverage
Blogs
Michelle Malkin: Celebrating the 9/12 rallies; Update: Turnout estimated at 2 million
Hot Air: Open Thread: 9/12 Tea Parties
Dinosaur Media
MSNBC
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Fox News: Tea Party Express takes Washington by Storm
CNN: Tea party activists rally at U.S.Capitol
9-15 Update
May as well post some of the videos and pics that have been going around the Internet for the record here
This is the time-lapse
And this is from the corner of 14th and E St NW
Posted by Tom at 8:30 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 22, 2009
March for Life 2009
For years I'd always heard about the March for Life in Washington DC the day before it happened, or read about it the day after in the newspaper. As such, I'd always missed it. Last year I decided to solve the problem by going to their website and signing up for their email alert. That way, I'd get reminder and would be able to schedule for it.
This year our new president gave us an extra reason for concern. On his campaign website he promised to sign the horrible Freedom of Choice Act if elected. He was, and I think he will. Here he is making the pledge:
Without going into details, suffice it to day that FOCA would dramatically expand abortions and federal funding for them in this country. It's bad enough to have virtually unlimited abortion, but we shouldn't have to pay for them. And our laws are far more liberal than in Western Europe, to which we often hear we should turn to for guidance.
But my purpose here is not to rehash the issues surrounding abortion, but rather to report on the March for Life 2009. All photos can be seen on my photobucket site, but here are a few along with the notes I took today.
Here we are assembled at about noon in front of the stage when the event kicked off. The idea was to listen to speakers for maybe 2 hours then march around the Capitol building to the Supreme Court where the march would end.
I have no idea how many people there were, but having been to many rallies and such on the Mall I can tell you that the crowd was very large. A story in this morning's Washington Times said today that past events had drawn about 250,000 each year since 2003.
It was hard to get a wide enough angle shot from a high vantage point to give an idea of the size of the crowd, but I got a pretty good flavor of events, I think.
It was a veritable sea of people
99.9% of the crowd dressed normally and maybe wore a pro-life sticker or button. Many had signs, most of which were pre-made. All, even the homemade ones, that I saw were in good taste. The worst thing you can do at these things is come across like a nut. Then people just laugh at you or shake their heads.
There's always one dope in the crowd, though. This was COMPLETELY unnecessary:
Don't get me wrong; I'm all for showing pictures of aborted babies if it is done right and to make the point. But if you dress up in a stupid costume and wear a chain of bloodied dolls no one is going to take you seriously. The point is to change minds, and this sort of nonsense does not achieve that goal. Besides, it is all too reminiscent of what I've seen the leftists do at their anti-war rallies.
Speakers and More
We started out by singing the national anthem, followed by a benediction, and then took the pledge of allegiance. They're 0 for 3 on those at ant-war rallies. I ought to know, since I've been to many of them as a counterprotester, or just to mingle with the lefties and get photos. Go under Categories at right and look down to Rallies and Protests.
March for Life founder and chief organizer ("president"? chairman? not sure on title) Nellie Gray was MC and started out with a brief talk. She then introduced a whole host of congressmen and one senator. It was impressive that so many showed up. I took notes and I think I got most of them:
Rep Jim Sensenbrenner WI
Rep. Mike Pence IN
Rep. Roscoe Bartlett MD
Rep. Todd Aiken MO
Rep. Jean Schmidt OH
Rep. Dr. Paul Brown GA
Rep. Steve King IA
Rep. E. Scott Garrett NJ (not sure if I heard this one right)
missed a name
Rep. Henry Brown SC
Rep. Robert Aderholt AL
Rep. Mary Fallon OK
missed a name
Rep. Jeff Fortenberry NB
Rep. Dave Bitter LA
Rep. Jack Kingston GA
Rep. Bob Latta OH
Rep. Bob Inglis SC
Rep. GT Thompson PA
Rep. Pete Olson TX
Rep. Todd Tiahrt KIS
Rep. Michelle Bachmann MN
Rep. Trent Franks AZ
Rep. Chris Smith NJ
Sen. Sam Brownback KS
Quite a list! Fortunately each only spoke for a minute or two. Nevertheless they all spoke well and I am appreciative that they took the time to come.
Senator Brownback got the crowd fired up and led us in a few changes
Are you ready to say Yes to Life?Yes!
Are you ready to say No to FOCA?
Yes!
Then who spoke but "B-1" Bob Dornan! Dornan, a former Navy A-7 Corsair pilot, was a representative to Congress from California from 1977-1983 and again from 1985-1997. Among other things he quoted 1 Corinthians 13:11, the one about "when I became a man, I put away childish things." but my note taking wasn't good enough to get the context. No matter. With his raspy voice he delivered a firebreather for 3-4 minutes that got the crown roaring with approval.
There were also a number of pastors and priests who spoke. More on them tomorrow.
The Crowd
There were a lot of teenagers and what seemed their parents. This in contrast to anti-war protests in which you see mostly 20-somethings and aging hippies. At pro-troop/pro-war rallies you see mostly 20-somethings and Vietnam veterans. An interesting contrast.
From the various signs i it was an obviously very Christian audience. Many churches had their own banners and signs, and the vast majority with Catholic. I saw one "Lutherans for Life" but that's it. No evangelical presence that I could see at all. I wasn't surprised not to see the mainstream protestant denominations, since many of them, like the PCUSA (Presbyterian Church USA ) is very left wing. No Southern Babtists or black churches either (that I saw, anyway). While I'm happy that the Catholics are so active in this particular pro-life activity, I'm disappointed that others are not.
As such, there were a lot of Catholic church groups. EWTN was there filming the march. I saw many priests and some nuns and monks (or friars? they had a friar's habit on. I'm not familiar with Catholicism).
At no point did I hear even a single boo when a speaker mentioned President Obama. Many speakers, in fact, lauded his achievement of being our first black president. It was a very respectful crowd, not angry or bitter.
Back to the Rally
Here's a good photo of the stage with the Capitol in the background. I do have to say that the dome is absolutely beautiful when the sun shines on it.
Here's a pretty typical banner from one of the Catholic churches
After B-1 Bob spoke, Nellie Gray came back on to deliver her address. Here are some of her points:
- No compromise on abortion
- No killings
- Abortion is not therapy
- There is no moderate position on abortion. No middle ground between killing and not killing
- No exceptions
- She addressed President Obama. Quoted his statement that if one of his daughters became pregnant he didn't want her "punished with a baby." She challenged him on this
- Live begins at fertilization by any means
- There is an abortion site within walking distance of the White House
- Abortion is the commercial equivalent of Dachau and Auschwitz
- We want you, President Obama, to stop abortion
- We can overturn Roe v Wade. Abortion must be made illegal at the federal level. It is not good enough to simply turn it back to the states
Later we heard from Bobby Schindler, Terri Schaivo's brother. He pointed out that Terri's case and abortion are all part of the same battle for life. We must battle the pro-euthanasia just as we must battle the abortionists as they're all part of the same philosophy.
I think he's right. National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru wrote a book on this called The Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts, and the Disregard for Human Life. Although I haven't read it, I have read Ponnuru often enough in the magazine to get a pretty good idea of his thesis (and you can read the editorial reviews at Amazon) and I think he's pretty much got it right.
A Brief Comment
Obviously the message from March for Life, as it is with most pro-life groups, is completely to the right side of the spectrum. No abortion at any time unless it is truly to save the mother's life. The pro-choice folks are completely to the left; any abortion for any reason at any time.
The logic of each side is pretty straight, and it all depends on when you think human life begins. If life does begin at conception, then even an exception for rape and incest is wrong. If life begins at birth, then no restriction makes much sense.
Political reality being what it is, though, the battle is fought in the middle. Our laws are more restrictive than some, but less so than in western Europe. Right now I think we're way too far off to the pro-choice side, and unfortunately the situation is only going to get worse.
Sometimes conservatives get the objection that we're supposedly hypocrites because we tend to support the death penalty. Without arguing the case, I'll simply point out that ">Death Penalty Information Center 1.37 million abortions. If hypocrisy is really the issue then let's trade; no death penalty, no abortions.
The Message
Some years ago the message of the Pro-Life movement was essentially "you stupid woman don't have that abortion! You are killing your own baby now stop it!"
As you can imagine it wasn't terribly well received.
The movement has thankfully changed it's tune.
Now it's seen as a tragedy for women, as a painful terrible experience that is foisted on them by predatory males and a culture that pressures them into "getting rid of their problem."
It's now more all about finding women, young and old, who are pregnant and scared or don't know what do so, and supporting them. It's about finding a way for them to have the baby or put it up for adoption; so that the baby lives in a loving household.
This was made clear by the speakers today.
The March
At around 2:00 the events on stage seemed to be wrapping up, so I headed for the front left corner of the field where the march would start. Unfortunately, either there were just too many people trying to cram into too small a space, or the thing wasn't that well set up, but it took over an hour to where I was actually walking on the street in anything like a march. No matter, the weather was nice and it was a great crowd to be in among.
Note - due to technical issues I used photobucket up until now and the rest are posted locally. If you care why the posting looks a bit different from here on out.
At the Supreme Court
The whole thing ended up at the Supreme Court, which is behind the Capitol building if you go back to the photo at top. The reason, of course, is that this is where Roe v Wade was decided in 1973. In my opinion, along with Dred Scott and Plessy v Fersuson, it is one of the wost decisions that have ever been issued.
The organizers set up a small stage with sound system, and some 200 women (I heard) gave their testimony as to why they regretted having their abortion. I even heard one man talk about how, when he was younger, his girlfriend had "got rid of their problem" through an abortion and how horrible he now felt. I can say that it is only through the grace of God that I was not in his shoes.
Does it Matter?
The CNN story below makes pretty clear that President Obama doesn't care about the pro-life agenda. He is the most radical pro-abortion (not pro-choice (a copout anyway. Was any one ever pro-choice on slavery), but pro-abortion) president we've ever had.
But despite what the First Amendment right to "petition the Government for redress of grievances," we know that the purpose of these things is not to directly speak to anyone in government. The purpose, as I see it anyway, is to fire up the troops into local action. And that is something that I am all about.
Note - I will add to this post tomorrow or Saturday but it's late and that's enough for tonight. Come back for more!
More Reporting
National Review - Kathryn Jean Lopez
National Review's The Corner - Mark Hemingway
Posted by Tom at 9:30 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
February 16, 2008
Silver Spring MD Recruiting Station - Countering the Leftists
Yesterday, February 15, about a dozen or so hard-core leftists gathered outside of the Armed Forces Recruiting Station at 8202 Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring MD, from 4-6pm. There to counter them and support the troops was Free Republic.
World Can't Wait staged a series of protests at 6 military recruitment centers across the US.
Here's the background on this group from David Horowitz' Discover The Networks website
Founded in June 2005 by Charles Clark Kissinger, a longtime leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party, World Can't Wait (WCW) is a direct action movement seeking to organize "people living in the United States to take responsibility to stop the whole disastrous course led by the Bush administration." The organization asserts that removing President Bush from office "will be like removing a forty-pound tumor from your gut." WCW vows "to send Bush, Cheney and the rest of those fascists packing. ... After that, there are people in 'World Can't Wait' who are working for everything from reforming the Democratic party, to building a 3rd party, to revolution."
Also present were a few members of Code Pink, including Desiree Anita Ali-Fairooz, the woman who attacked Secretary of State Rice last October 24 as she prepared to testify before Congress. Here she is on that day
And here she was yesterday, trying to explain to an Army recruiter (just out of the picture) why the war in Iraq was evil etc. Needless to say, he wasn't buying.
The protesters gathered at the corner of the parking lot maybe a 100 feet away from the recruiting center. In this photo, Georgia Avenue is to the left, and the parking center and recruiting center are to the right. On the opposite end of the parking lot was Free Republic, which you can see in the background. One of our members had a large Amercan and US Marine Corps flag, which you can see waving proudly in the breeze.
One leftist had on a Palestinian kuffiyeh "support" scarf. You might recognize that his sign is recycled from previous protests. I saw it last Sept 15 at GOE III and GOE I, at the International ANSWER protests in Washington DC.
This is the flyer that they were handing out to passers by
Here's the view from behind the FReepers. At the end of the sidewalk are the leftists
And here we are. As the cars would slow for a traffic light, motorists could observe the scene. We got many honks, friendly waves, and thumbs up from them.
Here's Desiree Anita Ali-Fairooz with a typical Code Pink sign
Throughout most of this the military recruiters stayed in their office, windows shuttered and door locked. In good military fashion they prepared for the worst, fearing a repeat of the seige of the US Marine Corps Recruiting Station in Berkeley, California. No doubt they were monitoring the situation from inside. After some time, though, one of the recruiters came outside and stood in the parking lot where he could observe the protesters better. There was a Montgomery County police officer in the parking lot, but he left after awhile and we were never sure if he was there to monitor the protest or if he was just there by accident.
The Leftists Ratchet Up their Protest
Eventually growing bored with standing at the street corner, shortly after 5:00 some of the Pinkos decided to head over to entrance of the recruiting station and entertain themselves by chanting slogans. By this point two of the recruiters were out front, engaged in debate with the leftists
Here's the scene
One of our number decided that he wasn't going to let the leftists have it all to themselves. The big orange sign says "Hey! Recruiter Leave our Kids Alone!
The leftists started chanting and unfortunately I didn't have a recorder or notepad, so I didn't get their exact words, but it was something to the effect of "No More Rape, No More Torture, No More War"; standard leftist fare. Yawn. This group was a pale imitation of their brethren in Berkeley and elsewhere. They didn't attempt any vandalism or try to force their way inside the recruiting center. They drew some slogans on the parking lot with chalk but that's it.
After chanting for maybe 10 or 15 minutes they grew bored, and some returned to their street corner. Others stayed to try and debate the recruiters and a few of us. We heard all of the usual stuff; that we are "bombing Iraq" (apparently at random), doing nothing but "killing women and children" (no terrorists ever die in their world), that 1.2 million Iraqis had died since the invasion (no doubt referencing the hightly questionable Lancet Study, and when the terrorist kill people it's still our fault), and the "how would you like it if the Chinese invaded the United States and imposed their system here" (the logical fallacy of moral equivalence). As debating them is pointless, I mostly just stood and observed. Here's the scene
The two recruiters handled the situation with grace. They patiently explained to the leftists why the war was justified, what we were trying to do, and that in fact the surge was succeeding. They were quite knowledgeable and overcame the leftist's objections one by one. Each had served in Iraq.
Around 6:00 the leftists decided they'd made their point and stared to pack up. We thanked the recruiters for their service and were sorry that they had to put up with a bunch of idiot protesters. They in turn expressed their appreciation that we were there to show support.
You can see all of my photos on my Photobucket site.
Here are additional photographs taken by fellow FReeper "Mrs Trooprally."
Update
Leftists physically attacked and vandalized the Armed Forces Recruiting Center at 14th and L Streets in Washington DC that same day. From Indymedia, which apparently approves of this sort of activity:
At the peak of the second"Funk the War" dance party/protest, the entire group swarmed the military recruiter at 14th st, with about half the group getting inside and the rest securing the entry and plastering windows with stickers.After many previous protests had found the 14th st recruiter "closed" at 5PM, Funk the War found them open, and the door unlocked at nearer to 6Pm and promptly exploited the situation by demonstrating to them first hand how an occupying force behaves.
After a loud commotion inside while outnumbered cops watched, recruiters finally managed to get protesters to leave-but not before literature and full-body length cardboard displays in the street window area were destroyed. In addition, hundreds more "Funk the War" stickers were plastered all over just about everything that would take them. By the time everyone was out it looked like a tornado had swept through the lobby.
One recruiter tried to grab an activist but found himself overpowered by SDS's superior strength and numbers and had no choice but to give up!
This came on the heels of the whole group marching in K st and Connecticut Ave at the height of rush hour, closing War Profiteer's Row to cars fro quite a while. The group closed out by going after DC GOP headquarters, but that door was locked and there were too many cops around to break it down.
If conservatives did this they'd call us terrorists.
Posted by Tom at 12:30 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 15, 2007
Gathering of Eagles III - The Fight for Victory Tour and Counter to A.N.S.W.E.R.
Today I was fortunate enough to be able to be at the Gathering of Eagles III in downtown Washington DC, it was the culmination of Melanie Morgan's Fight for Victory tour across the USA.
Several groups, of course, participated in making today's Gathering of Eagles possible. Among them Morgan's Move America Forward, Protest Warriors, and Free Republic. For a full list and details see my post on the run-up to today.
Of course, in addition to us International ANSWER held their protest as well. If by some chance you're not familiar with exactly who they are please see their profile David Horowitz' DiscoverTheNetwork. Wikpedia also has a decent entry.
Order of Events
To provide a structure and get things started, today's events can be broken into three parts:
1) Morning - The Gathering of Eagles held a rally on the Mall, and at the same time ANSWER held a rally near the White House
2) Early-to-mid afternoon - ANSWER (finally) marched down Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House to the Capitol building, and on both sides of the street Eagles showed them that they were not the only one's in town that day.
3) ANSWER staged their "die in" on the lawn and steps leading up to the west side of the U.S. Capitol. Some Eagles went to watch, I was among them.
Part I - The Gathering of Eagles
I got uptown just before 10, made my way to the Gathering of Eagles. Here are some views of the crowd
This one gets you an idea of crowd size
Two of my heroes, Bryan Preston and Michelle Malkin were there. They also came to Friday night's FReep outside of Walter Reed. Their post on Walter Reed is here, and here's their initial report on today's GOE III. I'm sure they'll have more up later, and I'll link to it when I see it. I'll also link to the Free Republic After Action Report on Friday when that's up.
While all this was going on I ran into one of my favorite bloggers, Tantor of Conservative Propaganda. I didn't get his photo as I'm not sure he would want it published. As of this writing I don't see that he has his post up about today yet, but be sure to visit his site over the next few days. He told me that after spending some time atGOE III he was going right up to the White House and do an infiltration of the moonbat crowd. He'll have an excellent photo essay sometime in the next day or so I'm sure.
Here's a sign that would no doubt infuriate the moonbats later on
Many Vietnam veterans of Rolling Thunder where there. I got a chance to speak briefly with some throughout the day, and shook their hands and said "thank you for your service."
My general impression is that they come to counter the war protesters not because they necessarily believe lock stock and barrel in what the Bush Administration is doing, but because they remember having to come home to the anti-war hippies themselves and have said "never again". They have a great distain for anti-war types, believe you me.
Here are three from the front and back
Kristinn Taylor of Free Republic was emcee, and as always did a masterful job of keeping things on track. We started off with the pledge of allegiance and a prayer, something I'm sure the ANSWER people didn't do.
Taylor and Morgan had secured a very impressive list of speakers for the event. Some were more inspirational, like Lt Col Robert "Buzz" Patterson, and others were Gold Star mothers and fathers who of course had more somber and emotional presentations. One father recounted the last phone call he received from his son, which was quite moving.
Here is audio of part of Melanie Mortan's speech
Another speaker was Dr. Kimberly Kagan, president of the Institute for the Study of War. Check out her latest on NRO, where she and others analyze President Bush's speech last week on Iraq.
Then we had a surprise speaker; presidential candidate Rep Duncan Hunter (R-CA). I am a fan of Hunter, and wish he was doing better in the polls. I think he'd do well against any of the democrats, and would probably vote for him in a primary if I could.
My little camera doesn't have much of a zoom, so here's the my best photo of him
Here is audio of Rep Hunter's remarks.
I walked around to the side after the rally, and he was good enough to speak for a few minutes with me and some others. He shook our hands and I wished him well.
We finished right on time at 12 Noon, with Kristinn dismissing the crowd and giving everyone directions to Pennsylvania Avenue. Everyone slowly filed out and made our way a few blocks away to where we would spend the next 3 or 4 hours.
Part II - The March and the Counter
We gathered up and down both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue, taking up several blocks on each side. All this was part of a pre-arranged plan; the organizers of GOE III (as well as ANSWER) having negotiated with the DC government over permit areas for weeks if not months before this event.
And we waited
And waited
If you're not reading ThreatsWatch...
...you're not fully informed.
During what seemed an interminable wait, I finally got to meet my good friend Marvin Hutchins, who was in town with blog partner Steve Schippert. Marvin is the creator of ThreatsWatch, and Steve is a contributor. Steve also contributes to National Review Online, where you can find his posts on The Corner and The Tank.
They were in town attending some security conference, and as they would be here over the weekend of course wanted to drop by and see real life moonbats in action. They weren't disappointed.
FINALLY, at 2:45 they showed, a good 2 1/2 hours behind schedule. Here they are: Moonbats on parade!
It was, as always, a circus freakshow that would have made P.T. Barnum proud. I'll never figure out what it is about lefties where they think they have to dress up in costumes and carry all manner of vulgar signs. This one wasn't actually as bad as some I've seen in the past (see "Rallies and Protests" under "Categories" at right), but was a show nevertheless. Many of them carried preprinted ANSWER signs that their masters leaders had given to them.
Here's a good wide-angle shot so you can see that at times the street was thick with them
I think I've seen this contraption at other ANSWER demonstrations
The Chants
The leftists:
Iraq for Iraqis, U.S. Out Now!
Bush Never Served! Bush Never Served!
Strengh Through Peace!
Apparently flying F-102 Delta Daggers for 2 years doesn't count, but none of these people would know an F-102 if it hit them on the heard.
One of our number, a FReeper who calls himself "Dr Raoul" was shouting at the moonbats with his megaphone
End the Occupation, Commies Out of DC!
There was shouting on each side, and some folks let their emotions get the better of them, and occasionally tempers flared. I've learned to remain calm in the face of provocation, but it's something you have to prepare for.
A few marchers wore bandanas over their faces. I think this is the so-called "Black bloc" of anarchists, but am not sure. I'll do some research tomorrow.
Many Eagles would holler at them to uncover their face, calling them cowards. Sometimes they did, making my wonder why, if they gave in so easily, why them covered themselves in the first place.
Pardon the vulgarity but these people need to be exposed. You'll never see this photo in the MSM
They are a creative bunch, I'll give them that. Too bad they don't put it towards something useful
I'm not sure but I think this is supposed to be Hillary
There were your Palestinian sympathizers, who of course insisted that they just wanted "justice for the Palestinian people".
And no leftist demonstration these days is complete without the 9-11 Truthers
The whole thing was over by 3:30. Huh? I looked at my watch in disbelief. Past demonstrations had gone on for a few hours. If I have it right (and I'll check my recorder tomorrow) this bunch went past us in just under an hour.
ANSWER flopped.
Many of us made our way to the US Capitol, only a few blocks away, to see this "die-in", that ANSWER had been advertising on their website.
Part III - The Moonbat "Die-In"
At the Capitol both groups got somewhat mixed up. GOE didn't have a permit area establised, so we wandered around in small groups, trying to figure out where the moonbats were going to do this die-in.
Here you can see the yellow ANSWER signs in the background by the Capitol
Not being quite sure what to do, our group walked around to the right. We headed up a path to the Capitol, but ended up on the wrong side of where they were doing this "die-in". One of our number told me that the moonbats were on the other side. Since the people I was with seemed content to stay where they were, this left me with a decision.
Hanging with the Moonbats
I took the plunge, and with flag in hand (I was carrying an American flag on a 10' pole), as well as with a American flag shirt, and a "Surge to Success" button, I waded into a veritable sea of leftists over to the other side of the gathering.
Ok, so I wasn't really "hanging out" with the leftists, but there was no way they could mistake me for anyone on their side of the political spectrum.
Sure enough, after a hundred yards or so I came upon a bunch of them lying down. I asked if this was the die-in and they said yes.
Most didn't exactly look dead. And of course the girl in this photo has a vulgar sign on her back. What is with them that they can't put forth their message in a civil manner?
A guy with a bullhorn was trying to get more to lie down, but most just milled about. Why, I wondered, didn't they just all lay down? That was why they were here, wasn't it?
A hundred feet or so past this spectacle was more of them laying on the other path up to the Capitol. Again a guy with a bullhorn was urging them to lay down in this play-dead thing, but most seemed more interested in watching. The guy with the bullhorn here had on a Che Guevara shirt. But of course.
Despite the fact that my appearance put me very out of place in this crowd, no one bothered me a bit. I got some odd looks, but that was about it. I think at this point everyone was pretty tired anyway, having spent their emotions at the morning rallies and afternoon march. I know by this point I was pretty spent, and I could see it in the people around me too. Nevertheless, I wanted to get a few more photos and wanted to see if anything really interesting happened, so I hung out for a bit.
This woman brought her little girl to the die-in. Wonderful.
Finally, as I was leaving, I met this sweetheart.
Just the sort of girl you want to bring home to mom.
Important Update
via Wake Up America WRAL is reporting that 190 Moonbats were arrested
Several thousand anti-war demonstrators marched through downtown Washington on Saturday, clashing with police at the foot of the Capitol steps where more than 190 protesters were arrested. ...The arrests came after protesters lay down on the Capitol lawn in what they called a "die in" - with signs on top of their bodies to represent soldiers killed in Iraq. When police took no action, some of the protesters started climbing over a barricade at the foot of the Capitol steps.
Many were arrested without a struggle after they jumped over the waist-high barrier. But some grew angry as police with shields and riot gear attempted to push them back. At least two people were showered with chemical spray. Protesters responded by throwing signs and chanting: "Shame on you."
Idiots. Looks like all this went on farther up towards the Capiol than where I was. I don't know if it happened when I was there or not, as I was aways down and couldn't tell what was happenening up closer to the Capitol.
Do I even have to say that no Eagles were arrested?
ANSWER has a list of those arrested on their website
Among the arrested were Adam Kokesh, Liam Madden, Jeff Millard, and Garrett Reppenhagen of Iraq Veterans Against the War; Brian Becker, National Coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism); Ann Wright, former U.S. Army Colonel; Michael Prysner, Iraq war veteran and ANSWER activist in Florida; union president Gloria La Riva; and Eugene Puryear, Howard University student and National Coordinator of Youth & Student ANSWER.
Imagine, a former US Army Colonel degrading herself by hanging out with these loons, and then getting herself arrested in a war protest. If you want to say the war is wrong, fine, but don't hang out with this bunch.
All Photos for Today
You can see all of the photos that I took today on my Photobucket site.
Others Blogging
Age of Hooper as usual has great photos and video
Michelle Malkin has an Us vs Them photoblog up, and has seen fit to include one of my photos. Thank you, Michelle!
This Ain't Hell was in Lafayette Park (which is by the White House) with the Moonbats in the morning and has excellent photos and commentary also.
Victory Caucus has tons of photos. Be sure and check them out.
Media Attention
Washington Post: "Dueling Protests"
Washington Times: "Protesters Slam War"
Fox News: "Thousands March in D.C. War Protest"
New York Times: "Anti-War Protest Ends with Dozens of Arrests"
Videos
At the risk of making this post too big, here are two videos of the Moonbats at the Capitol Building.
The first is by the Hot Air team of Michelle Malkin and Bryan Preston. At the end they use my photo of the girl with the "F#@% War" shirt.
The second was taken by Mario Loyola of National Review and the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
Posted by Tom at 8:35 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
