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

Category: Gathering of Eagles

  • Eagles & Freepers rally for the troops

    While the IVAW, Veterans for Peace and all of the assorted anti-war groups were in Silver Spring, Maryland, Gathering of Eagles, Eagles UP, Move America Forward and other pro-troop organizations assembled on the National Mall in the shadow of the Washington Monument to support the troops – and to celebrate the first anniversary of their founding event against the March on the Pentagon – also the most successful day of this blog to date.

    I’d been told that the rally would start at 17th and Constitution at 10 o’clock, so you can imagine my disappointment when I arrived at about 11 and found the corner empty. But I turned my head about 45 degrees east and saw a multitude of American flags snapping in the breeze near the Washington Monument and I knew I’d found them;

    Their numbers were still a bit anemic, but a chilly wind was still blowing out of the north and it was a few hours until the march, I was pretty sure numbers would grow. Meanwhile I wandered around and found I’m sort of popular these days since my live blogging yesterday and my visit to the Freepers and Eagles yesterday.

    I also bumped into readers/commenters Dinky Dau, 509th Bob and Streetsweeper as well as fellow bloggers Skye and Rurick. It was a regular This Ain’t Hell reunion. It was a great experience after being cooped up with the other side yesterday. Much better people;

    As the morning wore on, the numbers swelled;

    Dinky Dau expressed regret that there were fewer people than he expected, but I told him to remember that before a year ago, it would have been impossible to assemble even a tenth of the number that were there. Ask Free Republic – I remember when they’d have rallies of ten or fifteen people.

    By the time the march started, I guess there were probably 500 people there – and they picked up another 25 people who joined the march as they passed – but I’ll get to that in a moment.

    We opened the event with the Star Spangled Banner and the Pledge of Allegiance, then we were addressed by Melanie Morgan of Move America Forward;

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    Her main concern is protection of our military recruiters. We’ve seen protests become more violent against recruiters in recent days. That’s why I plan on following the ANSWER crowds around on Wednesday when they plan to disrupt recruiting activities in DC

    Some of you may remember Debbie Lee from her address to the Berkeley City Council. She was there to represent Gold Star families;

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    A Marine recently returned from Iraq thanked the group;

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    As well as a recently returned Airman;

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    It’s my understanding that they were in DC on leave and just happened to pass by and joined in the rally. I thought that was pretty cool.

    Then Laura Youngblood, a Gold Star wife, lent her support

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    After a prayer, it was time to begin the march.

    In case anyone doubts my estimate of the crowd, here’s a video of the entire parade passing by;

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    Bystanders joined in the march as we passed the crowds at the museums along Constitution Avenue – like I said probably about twenty of them including this girl who had been walking her puppy – which turned into a puppy-carry because of the excitement;

    Lucky for Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, we turned before we got to the Capitol.

    As I said it was quite a bit different than being among the opposition yesterday. Instead of a bunch of people trying to act like they had PTSD, it was a group made up largely of veterans (oh, and the were a goodly number of people who weren’t veterans at the WSII thing, too, in case someone wants to debate the “Never Served” argument again) who were exhilarated by their successes over the last year and looking at a bright future for our nation.

    Like I said yesterday about the protest against WSII, I was amazed at the number of people who honked their horns in support of the Eagles, et al., and the folks who applauded as the march passed them. Maybe we really are making a difference.

    As I mentioned, Skye from Midnight Blue was at the rally, too, and she has pictures up now Marooned in Marin was there, too. It looks like we missed each other by a gnat’s wing.

    Thanks to Jammie Wearing Fool, Illusion or Reality and Gateway Pundit for the links. Welcome to new Blogrollee True North.

    UPDATE: Here’s a video I spiced together from some reactions of the crowd who lined the street as the march passed;

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    Editor’s Note: If I made a mistake with names or organizations please let me know – I’m terrible with names.

  • Eagles Up and GOE at Winter Soldiers II

    TSO and I went up to the main road during our lunch break and talked with the GOE and Eagles Up folks who were at the entrance to the National Labor College. I thought that their presence is an integral part of this story, too. John Kerry’s Winter Soldier wasn’t protested until 36 years later, these folks are making sure there’s an immediate response. So here are their pictures;

    What surprised me most was the number of people who honked their horns in support of the Veterans out here in Berkeley East – Montgomery County, MD. Maybe folks minds are changing.

    TSO is two-for-two. He’s been hassled by both sides now. The GOE and EU folks were a little upset at the sight of our media passes. But we ended up with hugs all around.

  • Busy week planned

    If you don’t normally read this blog on weekends, you’re going to miss a lot of stuff this weekend. Today I’ll be attending Winter Soldier II with my buddy Thus Spake Ortner from The Sniper. We’ll be live-blogging today’s theater while sitting back-to-back starting at about 9 Am until the whole thing ends tonight. In a conversation with one of the event organizers last night I was told some of the other folks who’d planned on covering the event dropped out because of the drama in the earlier part of the week as covered by Michele Malkin. I was assured that we’ll have a security detail assigned to us and that our safety is guaranteed, though.

    Other bloggers to watch today are my buddy Robin at Chickenhawk Express and Denis Keohane at Obiter Dictum, who has done a fabulous job prepping the rest of us on background of Winter Soldier I and the IVAW testimony up until this point. Another blog to watch for the latest is Blackfive.

    I’ll do my best to get photos and videos of the counterprotesters from Gathering of Eagles and Eagles UP who plan on being outside the National Labor College on New Hampshire Avenue in Silver Springs, Maryland (where Winter Soldier II is being conducted) to let Americans know that there are some of us who are still fairly rational.

    Tomorrow, I’ll be at the rally for the troops on the National Mall to be sponsored by Gathering of Eagles, Eagles Up and several other organizations who’ve come into DC last night to counter IVAW’s presence and I’ll have narrative, pictures and videos of that event up sometime late Saturday. I also hope to meet some of the readers of this blog who’ve emailed me that they’ll be there.

    Wednesday, is ANSWER’s “Day of Action” here in DC starting at about 7:30 AM (they say). ANSWER plans to block recruiting stations, traffic, and just generally pester people trying to make a living in the K Street area all to mark the five year anniversary of the invasion of Hussein’s Iraq. As usual, I’ll be there and document as much of it as I can and that’ll probably be up Wednesday afternoon.

    So you’ll want to keep one eye on this blog over the next week (mostly because the Left has trouble telling time and starting events when they’re scheduled). I’ll cover as much of the action as one guy can and it’ll all be here on the blog.

  • Rally at Times Square Recruiting Station

    Last night I threw up a quick link about the Gathering of Eagles‘ rally at the Times Square Recruiting Station that had been targeted by some whacko bomber earlier in the week. The link was to Pamela Geller’s reportage at Atlas Shrugs (mostly because it included a treasured picture of Pamela herself).

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    This morning I see Jammie Wearing Fool and Urban Infidel also post some photos and narratives of the event.

    Gathering of Eagles New York forum has more along with some great videos. Pamela also links to a Free Republic thread. Eagles Up and Gathering of Eagles also emailed me this link this morning to their Flickr photo set of pictures from yesterday.

    Well done, folks. Thanks for being there for the rest of us.

  • Saturday night must-reads

    I’ve got two cats sleeping on my lap and so all you get is links tonight;

    First, stop by and take at look at the Gathering of Eagles who were rewarded for braving the weather to support the military recruiters in Times Square by a visit from Pamela Gellar from Atlas Shrugs.

    If Baldilocks says he’s dead, then he’s dead as far as I’m concerned.

    Big Dog defends John McCain in the Boeing contract kerfuffle.

    The American Pundit catches the media lying about McCain’s position on waterboarding.

    Bloodthirsty Liberal examines Arab techniques of border control.

    Gaius at Blue Crab Boulevard writes on the absurdity of Hillary’s statement that she ended the hundreds of years of Britain’s war with the Irish.

    Jammie Wearing Fool writes about an idiot judge who disagrees with the war against terror, so she keeps a foster kid from enlisting. I’d always thought judges were supposed to lay aside their own bias when they rule – I must be wrong.

    The Liberty Pundit ties in yesterday’s job report to the only legislation the Democrats passed last year – the minimum wage.

    Gateway Pundit rounds up news on the death of the latest FARC leader found in pieces several miles apart.

    Bob Parks at Outside the Wire dissects the Obama sucker factor and reports that Obama doesn’t have a plan to withdraw from Iraq. Bob Owens at Confederate Yankee explains what that means. Meanwhile, Flopping Aces writes that Hillary’s military advisor says she won’t pull troops out of Iraq. I’m beginning to see a pattern here.

    Wild Thing explains in detail the history of the Weather Underground buddies of Barak Obama.

    Crotchety Old Bastard compares Michele Obama’s speeches to Che Guevara’s “New Man” speech.

    Pam at Right Voices reports on a stunning archaeological find.

    The Hatemonger’s Quarterly has the exclusive report on several fictional TV characters and who they support in the Presidential campaign.

    Moonbattery‘s Van Helsing warns that environmentalists are coming for your X-Box.

    Jay at Stop the ACLU explains why he’s voting for John McCain.

    GI Jane at The Foxhole tears up the Washington Post for their self-flagellating over their treatment of Muslims.

    Weasel Zippers writes on the Hamas admission that they’re supported by Iran – and I feign surprise.

    Dean Barnett at The Weekly Standard Blog writes that the New York Times will take a swipe at Barak’s Iraq policy tomorrow.

  • Yuh-uh, IVAW don’t disrespect vets

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    The above photo is from Adam Kokesh’s blog (click the photo for link) – the banner was designed by Jonathan DeWald and posted on Kokesh’s blog just this last Sunday (h/t Robin for sending me the link this morning). In the event that Kokesh takes it down, I’ve saved a .pdf of the web page.

    But I’ve been getting emails and comments in reference to the post below about how I should stop being disrespectful to veterans and I should stop questioning their service – at least one of the commenters here also commented on Kokesh’s post. That same commenter disavowed knowing DeWald – well the page URL has DeWald’s name in it, for pete’s sake and since you commented on his artwork, Army Sergeant, you’re certainly familiar with his work, aren’t you?. I didn’t see you criticize DeWald or Kokesh like you’ve tried to chastise me.

    DeWald – a member of the Iraq Veterans Against the War who has never set foot or laid eyes on Iraq – is questioning the service of members of the Gathering of Eagles.

    First off, the name of the organization doesn’t make the claim that it’s an organization of veterans like IVAW claims to be an organization of veterans who served in Iraq. A classification that DeWald can’t claim, by the way. I’ve at least been to Iraq three times in the space of a month – each time under combat conditions – but I don’t qualify for membership in the IVAW.

    Secondly, I’ve never met a member of the Gathering of Eagles who wasn’t a veteran – most are veterans of Viet Nam.

    Now if DeWald and Kokesh are trying to claim that the Gathering of Eagles members aren’t “real” veterans because they haven’t served in Iraq, DeWald must include himself under that “never served” tag, too, and Kokesh would have to admit that he didn’t serve honorably in Iraq, since he smuggled an Iraqi pistol back from Iraq during his service there – which is why he was busted a pay grade and he was refused a second tour to Iraq.

    Of course, neither will admit to the reality of the circumstances, mainly because they’re self-serving hypocrites and a bit delusional. But before the rest of you, who might have legitimate reasons for being members of IVAW, go off half-cocked, please look at the public face you’ve put on the organization. If you want to save a modicum of credibility, you have to purge your ranks of the criminals, liars and sociopaths.

    And try applying the same standards to your own ranks that you try to impress upon me.

  • We’re winning the war at home, too (UPDATED)

    I got wind a few weeks ago that ANSWER was planning a protest in DC on March 15th. So my immediate reaction was to check the Gathering of Eagles forum – and they had already planned a counter-protest. Well, that was good news for me because protests always raise my traffic through here.

    Today, I went back to ANSWER’s website and there was no mention of the March event. Strange. So I went to GOE’s forum and lo and behold, ANSWER had cancelled their protest;

    Do you ever think that we’re spinning our wheels in fighting the America-hating moonbats? Well, consider this:

    A.N.S.W.E.R., MoveOn.org, and their affiliated purveyors of political puke have canceled their planned March 15th event! They are increasingly intimidated by the prospect of us and our allies confronting them in the streets wherever that might be, in Hometown, USA, or Washington, DC.

    Accordingly, we will not have the “Americans Standing Up” rally in DC on the weekend of March 15th, as there will be no opposition to confront, and you KNOW we love to intimidate those misguided souls and their anti-American leaders like Cindy Sheehan and George Soros!

    In a nutshell, WE ARE WINNING THE BATTLE! And we will win the war for the soul of America!

    Now you have to remember these clowns had anti-war protests in DC planned BEFORE 9-11, and now they’re canceling events during the war. They just might be getting it that they’re not accomplishing anything.

    Adam Kokesh and the IVAW haven’t gotten the news yet apparently because they still plan to have their John Kerry-style theatrics called Winter Soldier II. But it may just be that they’re is too lazy to update their websites. When I hear more, I’ll post more.

    UPDATE: Gathering of Eagles is planning on being in town for the Winter Soldier II thingie, so your blogger will be there, too. Good excuse to take a coupla days off from work. You up for it, Kate?

  • Vietnam Memorial vandalized UPDATE

    Last week I wrote about the Viet Nam Memorial vandalization and the Park Service brushed it off as a cleaning accident. I thought it was a little odd that a cleaning crew would even bring a potentially damaging material near the Wall, but without the Park Service’s admission, it was pretty much a dead end.

    Well, Michele Malkin broke the Park Service’s admission that it was indeed vandalism yesterday afternoon (I updated last week’s post with the news). Last night, the local DC Fox broadcast channel ran this story on the 10 o’clock news broadcast – the story has been updated this morning.

    The funny thing is this; in the lead-ins to the 10 o’clock news, the news team said they had video of the perpetrators, however this video of the perpetrators never aired and it’s not included on the video clip on their website, so I wonder if it was just a teaser to get me to watch the news or if someone dumped the idea.

    Robin at Chickenhawk Express has all of the pertinent statements andd links prior to the admission of vandalism and since.

    I just think that it’s a little disengenuous of the Park Service to call it an accident until the Gathering of Eagles and ANSWER leave town – then suddenly it becomes vandalism. There were also rumors of an arrest at the Viet Nam Wall on Saturday, the day of the protest. I can’t speak to those rumors because I was two miles away at the Capitol, and the rumors were forgotten in the shadow of the IVAW charades. So I don’t know – if anyone has firsthand knowledge, please let me know. 

    The Washington Post tries to explain the reticence of the Park Service to call it vandalism;

    The unidentified substance that was found splashed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial earlier this month was the result of vandalism, the U.S. Park Police said yesterday.

    Sgt. Robert Lachance, a Park Police spokesman, said that a detective made the conclusion but that officials would provide no more details because the investigation is continuing.

    Lachance said the case would involve a long-term investigation. “It’s a terrible crime, and we want to solve it,” he said.

    Yeah, well, why didn’t the media display that same caution before the Haditha incident. I’m sure Red-White-and-Blue patriot, John Murtha, Viet Nam veteran and Marine for 30 years (and not one moment more than 30 years) will at any moment decry the vandals as criminals – and demand justice. Waiting with unabated breath here.

    And the Left is spinning the story – apparently, it probably wasn’t someone from the Left neccessarily because the anti-war protest this weekend crossed partylines – according to the koolaid drinking sheep.