This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Gathering of Eagles

  • At Walter Reed tomorrow night

    Our buddy DanNY from GOE/NY sent along this humorous bit from some clowns who think they have the organizational skills of GOE;

    teabagger-watch

    The folks at Free Republic have been manning the four corners outside of Walter Reed since March, 2005 – here’s the post I did of their three year anniversary last year. It’s not like everyone just decided to finally show up this Friday night. They’ve never been involved in “severe intimidation” of the assembled moonbats halfway down the block from the Main Gate.

    Well, there was the one time that Concretebob got the permit for occupation of all four corners when he found out that the Code Pink permit didn’t exist. That’s why they’re halfway down the block. So anyway, if you’re in town Friday night, stop by WRAMC and join us.

    I hear Tankerbabe will be there.

    Don’t forget the barbecue at the Mologne House. More from FReeper buddy, trooprally;

    GoE has a duplicate permit for the moonbats area.

    The DC Chapter has also extended our permits to cover all of the street in front of Walter Reed, except the small area where the moonbats are.

    We start at 6PM. A moment of silence will be held at 8:46PM, 8 yrs and 12 hours after the 1st trade tower was struck.

    RE signs, we will have a lot from GoE I and some made up, but if the numbers are going to be as many as expected, feel free to bring your own.

    Moonbats may try to infiltrate our group with obambi-hilter and hanging obambi posters. If you see any, please immediately remove them.

  • Tea Partiers protest healthcare plans

    loretta_sanchez_tea_party_2

    Across the country, Americans expressed their displeasure with the president’s healthcare plan. The lovely ladies above were at fake Mexican Loretta Sanchez’ office. I snagged the picture from American Power blog who has quite a list of links of other protests across the nation.

    Gateway Pundit reports on the protest in St Louis at Senator McCaskill’s office there. Apparently, her staff is so accustomed to dissenting opinions that they closed the doors and windows and called the cops on the surly protesters. According to the Schilling Show, the cops were called by the staff of Tom Perriello’s Charlottesville office, too.

    Our buddy, DanNY at GOE; NY visited several politicians offices in NY including Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Sen. Kristin Gillibrand, Rep. Steven Israel, Rep. Tim Bishop.

    Instapundit has photos from Cleveland, Dallas and Raleigh. Michelle Malkin has pictures from Houston, Mobile, and St Louis. The local Fox station in McAllen, TX reports in the protests there.

    The Eureka California Times-Standard reports on protests there, Contract With The Constitution has pictures of the San Antonio event.

    Send me your links and pictures and I’ll add them as the day goes on.

  • MoveOn and Acorn Meet Patriots

    goevsmoveon

    Our buddy, DanNY, went and counter-protested a MoveOn/ACORN rally at Lil Chuckie Schumer’s office with a number of his friends out on Long Island today. Apparently, they outnumbered the Soros minions by a 10:1 ratio. Click on over and give them some love in the comments (make TSO jealous).

  • Where are all of the protesters?

    Wall Street Journal’s Stephanie Simon writing at on the Washington WIre asks where are all of the protesters. Just like I’ve complained over the last few months, she discovered the anti-America Left just can’t turn out the numbers they used to command.

    They’ve produced some striking visuals. Demonstrators in orange prison jumpsuits, with black hoods over their heads, protested the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Others marched in Mardi Gras masks, black bandanas, or pink princess hats. Some toted giant puppets.

    Yet their numbers have been modest, their impact small.

    Glenn Spagnuolo, leader of the group Recreate ’68, says crowd size is unimportant. “All I hear now is ‘How many numbers [of protestors] do you have, Glenn?’” he said. “No one says, “How many dead Iraqis are there? How many incarcerated African-Americans are there? I don’t play the numbers game. If I have to march alone, I’ll march alone.”

    He blames the low turnout on the massive police presence. Law enforcement is everywhere – on horseback, on motorcycle, on foot, often in full riot gear. “You have guys looking like robo-cops coming in with all this gear on and it’s very intimidating,” Spagnuolo said. “Even I’m scared.”

    “I don’t play a numbers game”. You can bet if the numbers were in the thousands he’d be shouting it from the rooftops.

    Well, you know, the answer could be that it’s a lie that 65% of Americans condone the protesters as they like to tell us. Seems to me that if that figure were true they’d be able to attract a whole lot more. Their message is old and worn out. Their chants are empty platitudes. They live in an echo chamber and prey on the young and stupid – and everyone is beginning to see they’re only in it for the money and fame.

    Michael Heaney…blames activist leaders as well, for using confrontational rhetoric as they geared up for the convention. “Both the protest organizers and the police, over the course of this entire year, have been overreacting to each other,” said Heaney…

    Well,, again, if they had the numbers you would have see the confrontation. The last big protest the anti-American Left assembled was in January 2007 when they stormed the Capitol and spray-painted their slogans on the steps. That triggered the Gathering of Eagles and Eagles Up movements across the country which has also caused the anti-America crowd step back and take a look at themselves and their behavior. Now they can’t get ten protesters together without attracting counterprotesters. That hurts their morale and affects their numbers.

  • Flag Day in bitter West Chester, PA

    My buddy Skye from the blogs Midnight Blue and Flopping Aces has been pestering me to come up to West Chester, Pennsylvania to cover her pet project, the Victory Group that counters the Chester County Peace Vigil, so I finally relented (I hate driving back into DC after the peace and tranquility of Real America) and I wasn’t disappointed. I’m sure most of you remember that Skye was the blogger attacked by a member of the “Peace” vigil last month, but that hasn’t stopped her from being there every Saturday.

    So when Thus Spake Ortner and I met up there, we estimated there were probably 200 bitter, patriotic Pennsylvanians clinging to their flag, their guns and their faith facing about forty enlightened beings ready to surrender their safety and well-being for the sake of world peace. Guess which group is which of these two pictures;

    All of the old hippies were out with their tired bumpersticker politics;

    It’s no surprise that the peace movement in West Chester would hijack the image of West Chester’s favorite son, Smedley Butler, and quote from his writings in a socialist magazine;

    And more timely slogans;

    Of course, you can’t put a whole Supreme Court decision on a sign or in few enough words that a Leftist could pay attention all the way through – it’s just easier to call the whole thing illegal.

    Apparently the pro-Victory side are uberpatriots;

    I wonder to what lie she’s referring. Maybe the lie that the Left is patriotic and supports the troops. What the Tibetan flag had to do our Flag Day, I’ll never know.

    But luckily there was a bunch of people on the spot to raise my spirits again;

    Did I mention they had bagpipes?

    I think TSO almost wet himself.

    After the good guys sang the Star-Spangled Banner and recited the Pledge of Allegiance, the hippies figured their job was done and streamed off down the street pathetically chanting “Out of Iraq Now” in those weak little voices they have. In the meantime, we were treated to good food and beer at the Knights of Columbus Lodge up the street. There was speechifying, prayers and more bagpipes. And more Skye;

    I had a great time – usually I have to wait to see good Americans when they come to DC…but this time venturing out into the hinterlands paid off for me – I felt privileged to be surrounded by such dedicated and proud hardworking Americans.

    I threw together this video of parts of the event, so across America you can get the sense of how the bitter folks of West Chester, PA stand up to the malignant “peace” movement;

    [youtube OYi16QtMNHE nolink]

    I hope everyone understands that when I say “bitter”, I kid.

    And just so you know, when I got back to DC, I was stuck 6 miles from home in an hour-long traffic jam. Yay!

    UPDATE: TSO remembers the event a bit differently than I remember.

    Skye’s report is at Flopping Aces and Midnight Blue. From her group shot, I found TSO and me – well, the top of our heads, anyway. My head is the one that’s not reflecting sunlight.

    groupshot.jpg

  • Edinboro “peace thugs” admit “They were wrong”

    Frequent commenter and good friend to This Ain’t Hell, Dan Maloney, NY State Coordinator, Gathering of Eagles, and a blogger in his own right, alerts us to the judgment in the Swartout case that has been the subject of much discussion here over the few weeks. GoErie.com reports;

    A peace group that meets in Edinboro will receive training in nonviolent conflict resolution — a result of two members being charged for their parts in an April 22 brawl.

    Trainers from the Erie Peace Initiative will meet with the Tuesdays at Two group, which includes a number of students from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. The session has not yet been scheduled.

    Two members of the group — Alyssa Stelmack, 21, and her sister, Andria Stelmack, 23, both of Erie — were charged with harassment after they fought with a Townville couple that crossed the street to challenge their anti-war rhetoric.

    The group’s leader issued a mealy-mouthed apology of sorts;

    “They were wrong,” said Richard McVay, a Penn Action activist who met with the sisters after the fight. “They were wrong to react violently to a violent provocation. But I can see how it could happen.”

    The Swartouts had the same charge levied on them;

    The Townville couple — Jason Swartout, 33, and his wife, Carrie Swartout, 30 — also were charged with harassment, a summary offense. They have not responded to requests for comment.

    Despite the fact that I’ve been accused of being against the Swartouts by implying they had some measure of culpability here, apparently the court agreed with me. No amount of exclamation points can change the truth. I hope this a lesson for both sides – if we’re going to have a discussion about this, neither side wins when the discussion is raised to the level of physical confrontation. I’ll admit there have been times my anger has boiled over, but nothing is gained by clocking the opposition and getting arrested.

  • Poor victimized IVAW member reinstated

    knappenberger_resize1.jpg

    Evan Knappenberger is seen above during the Wednesday, March 19, event organized by Ferndale High School students to protest the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War, where Knappenberger was a guest speaker.

    Evan Knappenberger, the Iraq Veterans Against the War lunatic who threatened to blow up the Gathering of Eagles and issued a “fatwa” to assassinate Michele Malkin, then got suspended from the IVAW, gets resurrected in his local newspaper’s (the Bellingham Herald) blog;

    Evan Knappenberger, a local Iraq War veteran who did the Stop Loss Tower Guard vigil last summer and started the local Iraq Veterans Against the War chapter was suspended from the group, but reinstated after four days, for making threats online against pro-war activists two weeks ago.

    Knappenberger, who initially suffered an indefinite suspension, told me on the phone this morning that he had received an apology from the IVAW board for what he called their “arbitrary decision” to suspend him in the heat of the moment.

    Not only did the IVAW restore his membership, they apologized to him for suspending him. I wonder if they’re apologizing to Army Sergeant for the threats she gets from Knappenberger and his ilk. The blogger at the herald continues;

    “I’ve been getting death threats for quite awhile now,” Knappenberger told me today. “I just kind of boiled over. Yeah, I slipped up.”

    Knappenberger, who suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, said that the issue has been dead for two weeks and it’s not a big deal.

    Yeah, he’s been getting death threats. I wonder why.

    He said the IVAW is also “redefining” its terms of non-violence after the incident, with the recognition that they have soldiers in the group.

    What the Hell does that mean? Does it mean that IVAW is defining what Knappenberger engaged in as “non-violent”? I got news for you guys, there’s soldiers in every group and we all live under the same rules as the rest of civilized society. But the fun is only beginning;

    Because Knappenberger was not allowed at the Winter Soldier event, he offered up his testimony to them and he is also offering it up here. *Update* – Knappenberger has asked me to take the testimony down.

    So that’s Knappenberger’s story – he would have offered up damning testimony at Winter Soldier, but since he couldn’t attend because of mean ol’ Army Sergeant jumping the gun, he’ll just give it to some fresh-faced journalist-type who couldn’t tell an IED from an IUD.

    Quietly reinstating Knappenberger says more about the IVAW than anything I could write about them.

    UPDATED April 2, 2008: Michele Malkin must be getting hits from the same story.

  • Counterprotest in Berkeley

    Eagles Up emailed me the link to pictures of yesterday’s counterprotest at the recruiting station in Berkeley at Protest Shooter.

    These are from Saturday, March 22nd, at the USMC Officer Selection Office in Berkeley. There was a massive pro-troop rally. Eagles Up paid for the permit (code pink has one for free from the city council), but there were members from a variety of organizations including Move America Forward, and the Patriot Guard Riders. There were also regulars, like a group of Berkeley High School students who come by regularly to support the troops, and local folks active on conservative forums like Free Republic.

    It looks like being an anti-war protester is losing it’s luster. Good job, folks.

    More photos and narrative at Melanie Morgan‘s blog. Michele Malkin calls it “The Counterinsurgency in Berkeley” . Skye at Midnight Blue is still holding back the hippie hordes in West Chester County, PA.