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

Category: Protests/Rallies

  • The continuing Swartout saga

    Last Wednesday, I posted an email I’d gotten in a post I titled “The Peaceful Left” about the family of an Iraqi veteran who had been assaulted at a counter protest in bitter Pennsylvania (also reported on Gateway Pundit and updated). I just received an update to that story;

    I have noticed some folks are questioning the validity of our assault because no video has been produced yet. I can’t go into too many details but I can tell you there are two videos. One taken by my son which is in the hands of Fox News right now. And the other was taken by someone on their side and is in the hands of the Edinboro PD. I have seen that video and it is even more incriminating of the protesters. I can also tell you that Jason and I will be interviewed on the O’Reilly Factor Tuesday. I assume we will be on there Tuesday night? So, I thank everyone for their patience. We are all doing well and just working to get justice for our family. I do have a concussion which is affecting me a lot but that will heal in time. We have a great lawyer and are doing everything we can to get this resolved.

    So I guess if we all tune to O’Reilly Tuesday night (something I haven’t done in years), we’ll finally get to see what happened.

  • What’s good for the Goose…(Updated)

    Zombie, in the new blog Zomblog has photos of Code Pink getting a taste of their own medicine. Apparently, Marine Corps veterans are protesting outside the Code Pink recruiting center in Albany, CA.

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    Poifect.

    Update: While we’re in a mood for protests, Skye at Midnight Blue and Flopping Aces has pictures of yesterday’s Chester County, PA rally and a video that takes some shots at the Left and their “projection”.

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  • Paulians rally in DC

    Basements across America were eerily empty today as several hundred Ron Paul acolytes (known as “Granny Warriors”) descended on the grounds of the Capitol this morning for a Freedom Rally.

    They raged against the empire and demanded that they be heard. The Capitol Police came along and made this guy take down the upside down flag – but it shows the diversity of views and the confusion among many of the Ron Paul supporters as to what the Paul message is.

    Now, I’m not sure what the bar code on the forehead means, but I’m pretty sure it’s something about the “empire” which I heard discussed time and again. There were several people wearing these, in fact this guy was handing them out and he remarked that he was running out of them.

    I suppose that the revolutionary-era clothes were supposed to remind us of our roots, but it should also remind us that, although it’s nice to remember those times, it was also a time of an agrarian society with limited communication and a sparse and scattered population. Although the principles of the Constitution still apply, to think that government should return to the size it was in those days is Utopian and juvenile.

    Russell Means is a pretty big guy

    Dr. Paul arrived at about 11:30 to a rock star welcome;

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    He addressed his admirers;

     

    Unfortunately, the public address system didn’t work for the first few minutes so, even though I videoed his speech, I only caught about the last minute;

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    Although there was little I could disagree with him about, I remember the people who flooded the internet last year and absolutely squelched any debate about him. And that his stance on the war against terror is absolutely infantile and naive.

    But it took him about twenty minutes to leave because he signed autographs for his fans;

    But when Dr. Paul left, the event didn’t end, they had speakers lined up to talk to the Paulians. Most used populist themes like “out-of-control government” to whip the crowd into a frenzy. I don’t disagree with them on many of their themes, but to base a national campaign on populist sloganeering is a good way to hand the government over to the Left.

    This fellow (in the red, white and blue shirt) worried the crowd with charges that “Big Brother” was probably taping them out here (even though they were secreted away on the Capitol grounds where no one could find them) and would record all of their faces for future reference.

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    This fellow I overheard telling a group of people that he was a New Jersey Republican delegate to the convention and that he was going to vote for Ron Paul at the Republican Convention. He got advice from his (gullible) listeners to not tell anyone – as if they could overturn the convention with their stealth delegates. He told them how he was hated among his fellow delegates because he supported Ron Paul. I suppose there’s some sort of cache in being a rebel among these folks.

    There were other speakers scheduled to address the crowd, like Bob Barr, but I needed a beer. Now, Ron Paul acted like the campaign was over for him, but his fans didn’t seem to think so. I hope this doesn’t lead to some sort of Ron Paul Derangement Syndrome.

    Although the rally wasn’t as big an event (moonbat-wise) as I’d hoped, there was one bright spot. I got to meet the blogger Charlesr (from the Age of Hooper and Hot Air) and we swapped Medea Benjamin stories.

    UPDATED: I welcome the lizards from LGF, and urge ya’all to go look at the work of a real pro; Charles has his post up at Age of Hooper.

  • The majority of Americans

    Waking up early this morning, I caught the end of the Bill O’Reilly show with Laura Ingraham hosting. She had Pete Hegseth (of Vets for Freedom) facing off with Code Pink’s Medea Benjamin. The video is on YouTube already

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    Medea Benjamin claims that she and her Code Pink minions represent the majority of Americans. I’d like to dispute that with some of my previously unpublished pictures – some going back two years. (Note to the guy that accuses me of photoshopping my Code Pink photos; I don’t know how to photoshop, so please don’t start that discussion again);

    These pictures are from last month’s protest;

    This picture is from January’s protest at the Israeli Embassy;

    This picture was taken at the Myanmar Embassy last September when Code Pink brought their anti-George Bush message to a rally against the treatment of the Burmese people. The guy in the picture above, with the Barbie bed, when he rode up on his crappy little bicycle to this protest, he shouted at the top of his lungs “Bush lies! Impeach Bush!” however that’s related to the Myanmar’s government treatment of the Burmese people.

    These two pictures are from the Mothers’ Day protest in front of the White House in 2006 (ignore the date stamp)

    That’s not America, Medea. It’s a bunch of drama queens who dress in the gaudiest clothes they can find to hang on their misshapen forms – Code Pink members are barely distinguishable from gay pride parade participants. No matter how many times you declare that you represent America, it’s easy to see from these photos, without even hearing your empty words, you don’t.

    I also noticed that Benjamin made reference to the amount of money to which VfF seems to have access. Code Pink bought a house on Capitol Hill (one of the priciest neighborhoods in DC) as well as a house in Crawford, TX. They have resident protesters who show up at EVERY protest in DC (as illustrated by the pictures above). I didn’t hear her address her source of cash. It seems to me that a house is a bit more expensive than a few rides on a bus.

  • Vets for Freedom Rally for troops

    About 480 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan assembled beginning at 8:30 this morning just across the street from the Senate wing of the Capitol. The temperature was about 45 degrees – global warming had struck. In their sand colored polo shirts, emblazoned across their broad chests with “Vets for Freedom”, they renewed old friendships and established new ones.

    There was a blogger or two there, too – most visible was the guy who’s hard to recognize without his cap;

    They were joined by some luminaries of the Senate;

    (Senator Lieberman slapped me on the back after I took this picture)

    And honest-to-goodness war heroes (SSG David Bellavia pictured);

    Pete Hegseth started the speechifying;

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    SSG Bellavia followed Hegseth;

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    Senator McCain addressed the veterans;

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    Then it was Senator Lieberman’s turn;

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    Each Senator took their turn (Uncle Jimbo from Blackfive asked me “Is there anyone left in the Senate or are they all out here?”) Including the only member of the Senate who actually served as a soldier in Iraq, Lindsey Graham (it’s a good thing Crotchety Old Bastard wasn’t there);

    Sam Johnson (R-TX), former POW (thanks to Punditarian for IDing him for me), took his hat off to the vets assembled this morning;

    Congressman Zach Wamp quoted John Stuart Mill;

    “War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.”

    Jeff Sessions spoke about victory being imperative in Iraq;

    LTC Steve Russell addressed what Americans can do to support the efforts in the war.

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    The media actually showed up for this rally, to their credit;

    They actually seemed interested in what the veterans had to say (notice Uncle Jimbo doing another interview in the upper right corner of this picture – or maybe he’s doing another Free Fly);

    Speeches over, interviews concluded, these veterans set out on one more mission – to tell the Senate how much this war means to America.

    These veterans are the polar-opposite of the folks I met at IVAW last month. There was not a selfish bone in the crowd. They fought for their country and their families and now they’re fighting for their friends who can’t speak for themselves. They battled the odds, they battled the uncivilized enemy and now they battle doubt and emotional knee-jerk politicians.

    While I was working on this blog post, the stark comparison between the ideological sides was illustrated for me when (on my TV) some Leftist goober jumped up during General Petreaus’ testimony and shouted “Bring them home!” as he was dragged from the room and pink anti-war signs blocked the cameras. Where would those imbeciles be without a war to protest?

    And I found a new drinking buddy;

    Welcome readers and thank you, bloggers from Blackfive, Gateway Pundit, Little Green Footballs, The Jawa Report, Civilian Irregular Information Defense Group, 9-11 Families, Infidels Are Cool, Dusseldorf Blog, Buttle’s World and (last, but certainly not least) Baldilocks.

    UPDATED for Identifying speakers – I need a secretary, Thus Spake Ortner won’t last forever.

  • 3d Anniversary Freep at Walter Reed

    A little over three years ago, the Code Pink freaks began a death vigil outside of Walter Reed Army Medical Center every Friday night to greet the weekly bus bringing in casualties from the war against terror. After their first Friday night a group of local people who frequent the Free Republic forums decided that Code Pink shouldn’t go unchallenged. They organized a weekly counter-demonstration.

    Code Pink had their group on the southwest corner of the main entrance into WRAMC, the Freepers got permits for the other three corners and it became a weekly stand-off. Code Pink coerced the unions into swelling their ranks for awhile and Freepers enjoyed sporadic reinforcement when Gathering of Eagles and Eagles Up folks came to town. Memorial Day weekend saw participation from Rolling Thunder folks. I don’t know how many times I’ve read other blog and read about bloggers who happened to be in town would just show up and join in. I remember last March, Michele Malkin wrote about the great time she had out there with the folks before the first Gathering of Eagles.

    Well, tonight marked the 3rd anniversary of the Walter Reed Freep – every Friday night, in rain, snow, sleet, blistering heat for three years, Code Pink has had to face counter-protesters. I was told tonight that Code Pink lost their permit for the front gate recently when Concrete Bob, a frequent visitor here and blogger at DC Protest Warrior kept a close eye on Code Pink’s permit and the day that it expired, he went down and secured their corner. Now Code Pink is exiled down at the end of the block and the Freepers own all four corners.

    Here’s a picture I took of the Code Pink protesters three years ago;

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    This is what Code Pink’s corner looks like tonight;

    Concrete Bob and Tom the Redhunter (also a frequent visitor here) invited me down tonight, so I stopped for awhile and took these pictures.

    The Freepers’ cars have signs that warn of the Code Pink folks ahead.

    The Freepers love telling the story of the night after the bus of wounded troops passed through the gate, it stopped and the door opened and one lone soldier, barely able to walk, limped back to the counter protesters and thanked them all for welcoming him home.

    The reaction from people passing the intersection surprised me, so I video’d it so you can experience, too (Editor’s note: OK, the videos are fixed now – thanks for being patient. There’s two of each video – I’m trying out Google video in case I run into problems with YouTube like I did last night);


    Those stalwart folks from Free Republic and Protest Warrior deserve our thanks for braving the elements for us.

    Welcome Free Republic readers – feel free to stay and look around. Especially the Protests/Counterprotests category – you’ll see some friends there.

    UPDATED 4-2-08; Tom the Redhunter put up an excellent post about the history of the FReep at Free Republic and at his blog The Redhunter.

  • 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.

  • DC Moonbat Convergence

    Another day, another protest. Today is ANSWER’s “Day of Action”. Since the Iraq War started five years ago today, all of the organizations that have sprung up to cash in on the war decided to have an eight-ring circus in downtown Washington DC, because as one IVAW member told me, the war is about money – apparently for the moonbats, too. My coverage was abruptly ended when I was ID’d as “one of those Milblog guys at Winter Soldier”, so excuse me for not getting all I should have.

    I was there bright and early for the festivities. It must’ve been a little too early because the Code Pink gals were looking especially raggedy;

    They even had their own marching band;

    Complete with mascot;

    Everyone headed out to their respective “actions” and I went looking for the recruiting station, where I figured the action was going to take place. But the Freepers beat me to it;

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    The recruiters felt safe enough with moonbats roaming around to come outside for air – thanks to the Freepers and a few ladies from the Second Amedment Sisters who were in town for the Supreme Court doin’s yesterday.

    A large police contingent stationed at the recruiting office was helpful, too. This particular officer told us his son is in Iraq with the Air Force.

    This kind fellow brought coffee to the Freepers;

    Up the street from the recruiting station was the American Petroleum Institute – since the war is about money and oil, it was a good target for the Greens to block people from going to their jobs;

    And the most energy efficient way to get your bicycle into the city is to bring it in a U-Haul pickup;

    I went several blocks away to the IRS – where apparently they hand out cash for fueling the war machine while starving children. On my way there, I passed a group of guys wearing media passes, ten steps behind them, moving her tiny legs as fast as she could was Code Pink’s head troll Medea Benjamin – I just thought that was funny.

    I got to the IRS just in time to see 20 or so people getting packed up for the hoosegow;

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    I went back to McPherson Square and was lucky enough to record some poor distraught veteran who had gone into Iraq five years ago today tell us about how he figured out that Bush had lied to him in the first three days and describe some atrocities that didn’t happen – but that we should “imagine” happened anyway.

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    You might notice that while I filming that video, the police roared out of the park behind the speakers – they were headed to the recruiting station, so I cut short the video and scurried over the station, but I missed the protest there. I did however get there in time to catch “Barbie” Benjamin riding in her toy bed;

    I noticed that it was nearly time for the “veterans” event to begin so I took off for the ten block walk to the National Archives. I passed by the White House and notice that there was no “action” there;

    I got to the National Archives just in time to catch the drama queens of the IVAW, Veterans for Peace and their mish-mash bands of friends and enablers. Notice how they show their love for this country.

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    And right upfront is every Leftist’s heart throb, Adam Kokesh – so you just know someone’s going to get arrested. I also noticed that the IVAW fellas have stopped wearing military uniforms and they’ve opted for the black sweatshirts these days.

    So they arrived at the National Archives and charged up the steps with their upside-down flags;

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    And explained to the crowd why they fly the flag upside down (I can’t understand a word of it – so good luck)

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    George Bush, Dick Cheney and Condoleeza Rice showed up;

    And so did the DC cops to cart off Kokesh and his merry band of trespassers on Federal property;

    They read some long speeches about the typical blather “Blood for Oil”, “War for Exxon”, etc…. I lost interest waiting for the police to cart them off.

    The chivalrous side of me was my downfall though. One of the IVAW guys (I don’t know which one – one of the little loud mouths) started yelling at the female security guard because she wouldn’t let him go up the steps and I told him to calm down that she was just doing her job. Then he yelled out “I know you! You were at Winter Soldier – one of those milbloggers”.

    As the crowd pressed in on me, I beat a hasty retreat – but another one of the IVAW guys started following me up the street calling me names – he had a buddy with a video camera to get it all on film in the event I knocked the little halfpint out. But they got nothing – except I left the event just as the DC cops arrived to arrest Kokesh, so I didn’t get pictures of that little theater.

    Most of the protesters were the same demographic as attendees at Winter Soldier – old hippies reliving their hey-day.

    Thus Spake Ortner, my battle buddy at WSII, has pictures at The Sniper as well as some hillarious commentary.

    While you’re in the mood to look at Moonbats, zip over to the Left Coast at Zombie and see if you can spot the spelling error on Cindy Sheehan’s sign.

    The Freepers wanted me to remind you all that March 29th is the third anniversary of their Freep at Walter Reed every Friday night and if you’re in town – make it.

    UPDATE: The Washington Post (that neocon rag) estimates protest numbers at a thousand – tops. The Washington Times concurs. I’d thought it was a little more, but we can use their number.