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

Category: Protests/Rallies

  • Times Square recruiting station bombed

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    Photo from Associated Press

    The US military’s busiest recruiting station was bombed early this morning by…well, your guess is as good as mine. Laughing Wolf at Blackfive writes;

    Well, Berekeley upped the ante; and, now it appears someone has met them and raised again….

    AP tells why the Times Square was chosen;

    The recruiting station was renovated in 1999 to better fit into the flashy ambiance of Times Square, using neon tubing to give the glass and steel office a patriotic American flag motif. For a half century, the station was the armed forces’ busiest recruiting center. It has set national records for enlistment, averaging about 10,000 volunteers a year.

    Big Dog explains why he thinks it’s domestic terrorists and not one of our more traditional enemies;

    The bomb in Times Square elevates the resistance to our military to a new level. Certainly, this could have been an act of terror but I dismiss this idea because a terrorist would have wanted a detonation when people were around so as to maximize death and destruction. The person who did this in the early morning hours is a coward who was making some sort of statement. The bomber chose this particular time because he lacked the testicular fortitude to confront the recruiters with his violence, and act that would have allowed them to dispatch him in short order.

    Gateway Pundit has some pictures of the damage and some likely suspects;

    Michele Malkin rounds up the news so far. Ed Morrisey at Hot Air writes;

    Now the movement has decided to morph into domestic terrorism. Of course, the people responsible will claim that they bombed the office during the night to keep anyone from being hurt. That’s exactly the same kind of rationalization that people like the Weather Underground and the SLA used at first, anyway — that terrorism was justified by their politics. In fact, a few like William Ayers and Bernadette Dohrn still claim that.

    When an unoccupied aborton clinic is bombed (I think that’s wrong and evil, too, by the way) the media and activists are all over it condemning the act, I wonder if this will get the same exposure. Probably not. Since no one was hurt, it’ll be ignored – until next time when someone is injured or killed. But if this was indeed intentional the FBI and local cops should track these felons and goof balls to the ends of the earth and then deal them harsh sentences to prevent the next little weasel coward from killing himself or others.

    UPDATE: The best I’ve read today comes from Pamela Geller at Atlas Shrugs;

    The left is already in a tizzy over the event worried that it’s going to cause a backlash against them. In the words of Kos Diarist Cool Blue Reason.

    “Inevitably, we’re going to start hearing about “left-wing terrorism” from the usual suspects in the media. And I’m guessing the drumbeat is going to be especially loud in this political environment.”

    And you know what CBR, you are absolutely correct. Do you want to know why, the reason is because you are more than happy to surround your self and associate with those who openly hate and attack those who defend us. You support groups like Code Pink and MoveOn.org who call our soldier’s baby killers and murderers. You clap when “students” swarm and destroy recruiting stations and you support world leaders who actively call for the destruction of the very country that defends your right to do so.

  • No Mas FARC (Updated 3x)

    The same folks who organized the “No Mas FARC” protest last month sent me an email yesterday asking that I get the word out that they ask everyone to step outside their homes tonight at 6 PM (Colombian time – apparently it’s also Eastern Time) and light a candle for “a Latin America without FARC” then post a picture if you can on your blog, in Facebook or some other electronic medium.

    UPDATE: There’s a spontaneous rally at 17th and Constitution (in front of the Organization of American States) in DC at 5:30 pm today.

    UPDATE: Kate sends a link to pictures of the rally at the OAS, 3-4-08, and a narrative at her blog.

    Kate at A Colombo-Americana’s Perspective has posted the Spanish language email, I just translated the gist of it for you, though.

    Speaking of FARC, Gateway Pundit writes that the computer that Colombia liberated from the pieces of Raul Reyes this last weekend shows evidence that FARC is in the process of making “dirty bomb”;

    Colombian officials on Tuesday said that FARC rebels are working on a radioactive bomb and that they had purchased 50 kilograms of uranium this month. The information was discovered after Colombian forces ambushed a FARC base and captured a top terrorist’s computer this weekend.
    Reuters reported:

    Colombia said on Tuesday that FARC rebels had been planning to make a “dirty bomb” with radioactive material, threatening the entire Latin American region.

    The charges by Vice-President Francisco Santos, at the United Nations-sponsored Conference on Disarmament, marked a dramatic turn in a regional crisis that has seen Venezuela and Ecuador cut diplomatic ties with Colombia.

    Bogota has already accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of funding the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas, after Colombian forces crossed into Ecuador and killed a senior rebel commander on Saturday, sparking troop movements and warnings of war.

    I find it hard to believe that FARC can continue this facade of being an Army of Liberation when the news of this dirty bomb gets around. A dirty bomb is purely a weapon of mass casualties, there is virtually no strategic use for it – except to deny an enemy use of a couple of city blocks for a few hundred years.

    When the evidence of this gets out, Ortiz, Chavez and Correa have some explaining to do. I’ve noticed that Evo Morales, the Moe character of Los Tres Chiflados of South America, has kept out of it so far.

    UPDATE: Babalu Blog writes that Colombia’s President Uribe has decided to take Chavez to The Hague on charges of genocide. But OAS, weak sisters that they are, are busy deciding what to do about Colombia violating Ecuador’s sovereignty.

  • March Against FARC (Update)

    Background from the Financial Times;

    During his eight months as a hostage of Colombia’s Farc rebels in 2002, businessman Gustavo Muñoz knew that he would be executed the moment the Colombian military intervened.

    “They used to practise my execution every fortnight,” he said. “I knew exactly who would do it if the military attacked.”

    Mr Muñoz says Colombians are now more concerned about the 4,000 people held illegally by the Farc, other left-wing guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries and common criminals.

    Thousands of Colombians are on Monday expected to march in repudiation of the Farc and its practice of kidnapping, in a demonstration organised through Facebook, the social networking site. The organisers claim the protest will be one of Colombia’s biggest, demonstrating a growing indignation with the kidnappings.

    “Some on the left used to argue that it was justifiable . . . that they needed to do it to finance the struggle for social transformation,” says Olga Lucia Gómez, whose País Libre charity helps victims. “You don’t hear those arguments anymore.”

    So I decided to add my voice to the millions worldwide from here in DC.

    I was really surprised that an ad hoc organization put together such a large demonstration in such a short period of time. It was just three weeks ago that Kate emailed me about contacts for getting permits for the demonstration. Most of the organization was done on Facebook and crossed generational lines as you can see from the photos. It really was a study in modern organization. My compliments to Laura Busche for herding all of these cats for the media and the participants.
    There were a few thousand people, mostly Colombians from what I could tell, gathered in the chilly drizzle of Freedom Plaza, just a few blocks from the White House;

    The theme of the demonstration was to show opposition to the Armed Revolutionary Front of Colombia, a Marxist terrorist organization that has been murdering innocent Colombians for forty years.

    Many of the people at this rally are refugees of the conflict in their country between a democratic government they elected and the Marxist narco-terrorists of FARC. This is a YouTube of Laura Busche, the main organizer of the event explaining the demonstration in English and Spanish.

    Aside from the hundreds of Colombians being held hostage for ransom (that’s how FARC finances it’s anti-government operations in addition to drug dealings) there are also three Americans being held hostage for propaganda purposes. The Colombians at the rally demonstrated for their release, too.


    Many of the signs the Colombians carried were specific about who are the enemies of democracy in Colombia. For example, this one about Human Rights Watch, which ignores the atrocities of FARC while pressuring the Congress and Bush Administration on supposed Human Rights violations of the Uribe government.

    This one speaks for itself;

    “[Simon] Bolivar dreamed of a great Colombia, not a terrorist Venezuela”

    This turns out to be the author of Padre Hoyos Blog.

    Here’s a YouTube video of the crowd singing the Colombian national anthem. They began their demonstration by singing the US national anthem, though. Another YouTube video of the crowd.

    Try as I might, I couldn’t find any Communists or Socialists on the periphery of the protest like they are at so many others. There were no Code Pink showboats trying to steal the show. There were no Bushitler signs, no signs that called for us to end our war against some nebulous brown people or to release prisoners from invisible camps. It was a genuine outpouring of contempt for FARC and a call for the hostilities to end against the Columbian people.

    Kate at A Colombo-Americana’s Perspective has a worldwide round up of the international demonstrations today. We bumped into each other taking pictures in Freedom Plaza today so I’m sure she’ll have less Anglo-centric view of the event when she gets her pictures posted.

    Gateway Pundit has amazing pictures of the huge crowds in Colombia. Daniel at Venezuela News and Views has pictures of the march in Caracas.

    UPDATE: I was anonimously sent this YouTube link to very well done video record of the event in DC. Pictures and videos of the event in Toronto at Correo Canadiense.

  • Berkeley vs. US Marines (Updated)

    (Scroll for updates)

    I was really surprised yesterday when I read that the City of Berkeley actually used the whole weight of their legislative body to hamstring the Marines from effectively recruiting in the city. No, I really was surprised. I had no idea how much of a bunch of idiots occupied that town. Call me naive.

    Of course, Code Pink says it’s a real victory for free speech. I don’t know how they figure that. By harassing people at their jobs, they’ve characteristically ended the freedoms of not only those Marines, but their prospective recruits. I know it’s hard for Code Pink and the Berkelians to believe, but a whole shitload of us weren’t seduced by recruiters to join the military. Some of us felt it was our obligation and duty (of course, I shouldn’t expect any of you to understand those complicated terms, sorry)

    At An Old Broad’s Ramblings, I read that Jim DeMint wants to cut off the US government’s funding for the town. Makes sense to me. If they don’t like government operations in their city, they should not like all of the money the government spends there, too. Well, unless they’re hypocrites, of course.

    Big Dog’s Weblog says we should boycott. Well, I would but I’ve never been to that place and I wouldn’t know how to boycott a city which has as it’s only export idiots and morons, seein’s how I avoid idiots and morons as soon as I identify one. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone from Berkeley, well, except David Horowitz.

    I guess I always took the advice that Baldilocks offers;

    It’s like having crazy family members: you stay away from them unless they’re hurting somebody or somebody is hurting them.

    Michele Malkin reports that one of the councilmembers is having voter’s remorse;

    One Berkeley City Councilwoman now says she’s “ashamed” of her vote. Idiot:

    “I’m ashamed of my vote,” said Councilwoman Betty Olds, who helped approve the parking spot but not the condemnation. “The protesters should have free speech – this is where Free Speech was born, after all – but to tell the Marines they are not welcome is shameful. If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t even go for the parking spot.”

    Yep, the shame will come for them all eventually. I remember the “shame” Vietnam protesters felt when history was written about their escapades, and the grownups got to write the history of the ’60s. How ashamed they are now of their behavior towards the veterans of that war – especially now that the Vietnam veterans have banded against the current crop of US-hating hippies. The chickens came home to roost for the Vietnam veterans, they’ll come for the younger generation, too.

    And Berkeley is already covered in chickenshit.

    Oh, and in a steel cage death match, one squad of Marines could take on the whole city, in case anyone is wondering.

    Sign the petition at Move America Forward and if you missed the whole thing, get a recap at Yankee Mom.

    Updates

    Pam Meister at Blogmeister USA republishes an email from Move America Forward that announces their plans to counterprotest the protesters at the Berkeley recruiting station.

    And Zombietime (hat tip to Little Green Footballs) has photos of the protest. It’s pretty well gotten out of hand, as things usually do in Berkeley;

    Recruiting station, Berkeley

    Marooned in Marin reports that Barbara Boxer’s office has condemned Jim DeMint for suggesting that Berkeley should be hung out to to dry by the Federal government.

    Michele Malkin reports that the SFGate says we bloggers are unhinged. Have the SFGate folks taken a look at the lunatics that are protesting? Neptunus Lex says we should ignore tham. Yankee Mom has all of the relevant phone numbers and email addresses.
    Skye and the West Chester County folks are still holding the protesters near Philly back.

  • Brian Becker; behind A.N.S.W.E.R.

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    This is a screen shot from the video I took Friday afternoon of the protest at the Israeli Embassy. The man in the picture is Brian Becker the national coordinator for ANSWER.

    ANSWER is;

    The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition formed on September 14, 2001. It is a coalition of hundreds of organizations and prominent individuals and scores of organizing centers in cities and towns across the country. Its national steering committee represents major national organizations that have campaigned against U.S. intervention in Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East and Asia, and organizations that have campaigned for civil rights and for social and economic justice for working and poor people inside the United States.

    Steering Committee:
    IFCO/Pastors for Peace
    Free Palestine Alliance – U.S.
    Haiti Support Network
    Partnership for Civil Justice – LDEF
    Nicaragua Network
    Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines
    Korea Truth Commission
    Muslim Student Association – National
    Kensington Welfare Rights Union
    Mexico Solidarity Network
    Party for Socialism and Liberation

    Well, I got interested in him because of the comment by BufordP on the original post IDing him. So I zipped around the internet looking up information on him. I dug up this story about Becker in the New York Times (in reference to the protest in DC last March that I also covered);

    Brian Becker, the national coordinator of the Answer Coalition and a member of the Party [for] Socialism and Liberation, said the group held out little hope of influencing either the president or Congress. “It is about radicalizing people,” Mr. Becker said in an interview. “You hook into a movement that exists. in this case the antiwar movement and channel people who care about that movement and bring them into political life, the life of political activism.”

    The Party for Socialism and Liberation states it’s goals;

    We are fighting for socialism, a system where the wealth of society belongs to those who produce it, the working class, and is used in a planned and sustainable way for the benefit of all. In place of greed, domination and exploitation, we stand for solidarity, friendship and cooperation between all peoples.

    Back in 2002, David Corn identified Becker with the Workers World Party;

    Officially, the organizer of the Washington demonstration was International ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism). But ANSWER is run by WWP activists, to such an extent that it seems fair to dub it a WWP front. Several key ANSWER officials, including spokesperson Brian Becker, are WWP members. Many local offices for ANSWER’s protest were housed in WWP offices. Earlier this year, when ANSWER conducted a press briefing, at least five of the 13 speakers were WWP activists. They were each identified, though, in other ways, including as members of the International Action Center.

    Workers World Party goals;

    Workers World fights for a socialist society, where the wealth is socially owned and production is planned to satisfy human need. That’s also what workers around the world, from Cuba to China, have been struggling for. The U.S. rulers have spent trillions of our tax dollars trying to stop them in a global class struggle. WWP promotes international working-class solidarity, the right of every nation to sovereignty and self-determination, and militant resistance at home to imperialist interventions and wars. Do you belong in such a party?

    So reading Becker’s statement to the NYT, and considering his membership in these organizations, it seems to me that he’s just organizing these demonstrations to recruit for the socialists and nothing more. The protests are nothing more than recruitment meetings.

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    From the September March on the Capitol

    It’s probably easy to recruit in the slammer, too.

  • Israel Embassy Protest; Dhimmis in DC

    I found out from Gateway Pundit yesterday about a protest planned at the Israeli Embassy in DC this afternoon, so I packed up my cameras and took a half hour off from work and slipped across town to Embassy Row.

    The first people I found was a small group of counter protesters, part of the same bunch that counter protest at Walter Reed every Friday night.

    They told me that before I got there, the protesters were pretty quiet, but the counter-protesters broke out their bull horn and got them all worked up;

    So they got their own bullhorn out;

    An arms race ensued;

    And they got ugly;

    But they were probably pretty ugly before they got there. Here’s a YouTube Video of the crowd. And another video of our heroes.

     

    The whole protest consisted of the moonbats shouting “Liars, liars, occupiers” while the counter-protesters tried to use actual ideas and substance to engage them. But they were more interested in shouting bumpersticker slogans.

    It was a real family affair;

    Then the usual self-hating Jews showed up;

    So guess who gets the press coverage;

    And what terrorist-supporting demonstration would be complete without the terrorist-hugging Code Pink contingent;

    Apparently they don’t like publicity;

    I should probably mention that this blogger, the mean, nasty, rich Republican came by public transportation while the Code Pink Hags arrived by taxi from about the same distance away from Embassy Row.

    Well, now that the gang was all here, it was time to leave;

    So we did (YouTube video link) . I don’t know where they went, but I went home (by public transportation) and got my blog fixed (by a wonderful Liberal, too – I know she’s reading).

    But like I said, the Left was more interested in being louder than the few counter-protesters. They were so preoccupied with shouting down the counter protesters, their shouting drowned out their own speakers who tried to speechify (You Tube link), but couldn’t over the “Liars, liars, occupiers” shouts. But that’s symptomatic of the Left; it’s not that they have anything of substance to say, just so long as they’re talking.

    Welcome Gateway Pundit, Atlas Shrugs, Solomonia and Weasel Zippers readers.

    Speaking of Atlas Shrugs, Pamela Geller has photos and an excellent report from the protest and counter protest in NYC on Saturday. Some samples;

  • Guantanamo Theater; Wear Orange Day

    Since today is the sixth anniversary of the first group of terrorist thugs to arrive in Guantanamo, the ACLU and Amnesty International pooled their resources in DC and organized Wear Orange Day to protest the isolation of murderous thugs from the rest of the world. And this blogger was there.

    It began down on the National Mall on 12th Street in the pouring-ass rain

    The theme was “Counter Terror With Justice”, which was a pretty phrase for infantile disregard of the realities of the world. Especially since the jihadists are countering justice with terror.

    Of course, those are fake Guantanamo detainees on the stage (out of the rain) but they had extra detainee uniforms if you didn’t have your own. And apparently they had psychologists if you needed one of those, too;

    There was a lot of speechifying about how we’ve lived under a dictatorship for the last six years, and how the people dressed in detainee clothes was the future of the country if we don’t have some change soon. There was even some guy who claimed to have been a prisoner in the Philipines and somehow his imprisonment there for some unspoken crime gave him insight to the torture in Guantanamo the detainees were “suffering”. I missed his point but he got big applause for his bravery.

    After standing in the rain for an hour or so, they announced that everyone who borrowed their detainee suits should turn them in – apparently because they’ll need them again. Then after a half hour of herding cats, they got everyone lined up two-by two and marched the half-mile to the Supreme Court, carrying five coffins.


    I don’t know why there were five – only four have died out the hundreds of detainees. Three from suicide and one because of colon cancer (at the age of 68).

    This one of the evil US troops (hippie pretending to be an evil US troop) that herded the hooded actors to the Supreme Court;

    And her pony-tailed partner


    Taking Capitol Hill with the media in the lead;

    When I first got to the Supreme Court, there was a guy singing “Guantanamera” (YouTube link) I guess he thought the song set to lyrics by Jose Marti (who inspired the revolution against Spain) was appropriate. But other than the name, it has nothing to do with Guantanamo. Lucky for you, my readers, I turned off the camera before he started harmonizing for himself and decided to try and rap the song in English. You’re welcome.
    In this video (YouTube link), we learn that the detainees are poets, which makes them human – I guess their humanity was a product of their imprisonment because be fore they arrived there, they were thugs and murderers.
    Well, the Capitol police were waiting for us when we got to the Supreme Court Building;

    For good reasons – the organizers and the police had collaborated to stage arrests. There’s a YouTube video link here – I think my camera was wet but the important is part is the “Arrest George Bush” rants. More video of the crowd here – serious cases of BDS. The worst I’ve witnessed in person.

    I got some pictures of the most orderly arrests in history (since the perps were already handcuffed when they got arrested);

    But it was all very carefully crafted. While I was taking pictures behind the podium, one guy ran up to another and said “OK, the police want to go ahead and arrest them now”. That was a pretty good hint to me.

    Associated Press reports 81 people were arrested. Not while I was there. I doubt there 81 protesters – but the only people I saw arrested were the 15 or so who went up the steps of the Supreme Court Building against the warnings of the Capitol Police. The Washington Post writes about the arrests;

    They were charged with violating an ordinance that prohibits demonstrations of any kind on the court’s grounds. Those arrested inside the building also were charged under a provision that makes it a crime to give “a harangue or oration” in the court building. The maximum penalty is 60 days in jail, a fine or both.

    BBC has pictures of events around the world.

    Michele Malkin (whose work Thursday alerted me to the protest on Friday) has more on the protests in rest of the country. And now, Michele has linked to this post – thanks tons. Thanks to the Gateway Pundit for linking, too. Welcome readers of other gracious bloggers who’ve also linked here; my buddy the Bloodthirsty Liberal, Jay at Stop the ACLU, Pirate’s Cove, and Darcey at Dust My Broom.

  • Free Burma Protest in DC

    Friday September 28th at about 4 PM there was a protest that began at the Myanmar Embassy and moved several blocks blocks through Northwest DC to the Chinese Embassy on Connecticut Avenue. Actually, I got at the Myanmar Embassy early and the Burmese has already begun, with very few Americans in attendance;

    Here’s a YouTube link to one of the speeches in their native language.

    [youtube JGm2b5cxydg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGm2b5cxydg]

    Then the monks showed up;

    And the crowd started growing;

    This is what endeared me to the movement. Whenever one of the Burmese would talk to a monk, they’d put their fingers together like this. I can appreciate a culture that reveres the piety of their old world while enjoying the benefits of our culture. To me that represents our melting pot – the western dress while observing their own culture’s traditions – without forcing the rest of us to bend to their particular whims. And so I, in turn, felt a measure of reverance for their culture.

    Although I commend the unions for showing up and lending their support, they brought very few rank-and-file members, but a lot of chiefs. Of course when you have topheavy leadership they took control away from the Burmese folks who were there and it began to look like a strike with chants like “What do we want?” “Democracy!” “When do we want it?” “Now!”

    Most of the Anglos that showed up were from Georgetown, GWU and American University. But the Code Pink gals showed up in their official protest clothes complete with Impeach Bush hats

    As well as some of the ANSWER creeps like this one in her Arafat scarf and ANSWER T-shirt who was chanting something while the monks were singing. I wonder if she knows her little Arab buddies bust up Buddist shrines every chance they get. I thought it was pretty offensive myself.

    Somehow the Impeach Bush stuff just didn’t fit in with the call for a free Burma – especially since President Bush made a point of telling the UN to get off their fat asses and do something about Burma just the other day. In fact the Burmese at the protest were thankful;

    This guy was live-blogging the event to Burma

    Finally, we were on our way to the Chinese Embassy

    With the Burmese Monks leading the way

    When we got to the Chinese Embassy, the monks stood between the protesters and the embassy much as I imagined they stood in front of protesters in Rangoon this week.

    Protesters shouted “Shame on you, China” (Video)

    [youtube KVV2dONkqvY nolink]

    And the monks led a traditional song (Video)

    [youtube zPAFP3yn4jo nolink]

    I’d say several hundred people showed up – and for an underpublicized event that’s a pretty good turn out for a Friday afternoon in DC during rush hour.

    I felt pretty good about myself afterwards – it was pretty black-and-white who was the good guys. And the good guys were well-behaved – well except for the US college students who couldn’t follow instructions from the police – like “stay on the sidewalk”.

    There shouldn’t have been any US partisanship – but there was. Some goofball fellow wearing a pink tie and pink socks and a pink “Peace” bumpersticker on his hat pulled up on his bicycle and yelled “Impeach Bush and save Burma” Of course, he got a giggle from the barren old hags from Code Pink – but pretty much was ignored by the others. Other than that, it would have been a nice non-partisan event supporting an oppressed people.

    Michele Malkin has the skinny on what’s happening in Burma. My protest buddy (three protests in two weeks), Kate from A Columbo-Americana’s Perspective was there and took some great pictures. She exchanged words with a Pinko, apparently.

    UPDATE: Spanish Pundit attended the protest in support of Burmese in Madrid today (Saturday) and writes a bit about Zapatero’s response to their plight.