If you Like Your Freedoms, Thank a Protestor

For the same reason I am responding to you.
I was taught to answer someone that says something to me,even if that person is an ass.

Sunday :: January 19, 2003
Largest War Protest Since Vietnam
The Denver Post is calling it " the largest war protest since Vietnam"--in huge letters, on the front page. Good for them.

Intervention Magazine has this first hand account by senior editor Regis T. Sabol, which begins:

From the grounds in front of the US Capitol, on the Mall, a sea of a quarter million Americans -- regardless of the number that the networks are reporting -- braved biting cold under a beaming sun to oppose the Bush regime's plan to invade Iraq "any day now."

Thanks for the photo and post amigo.

It does show how irrelevant the citizens are to Bush and his cronies, doesn't it?

Of course, they were free to assemble, but what good did it do? This Adm. is above the law, or so it thinks, and does what it pleases, under the guise of 'protecting the Americans'. From what, exactly? WMD's that didn't exist, which they knew didn't exist before they went in......it's a tired story, being repeated in Iran....

Check out the thread about American ports being foreign owned by UAE. But hey, they buy lots of weapons from the US, and money is money. The hell with security when money is involved.

The whole thing stinks like rotten fish.

I'll have to go check that thread out. I have no idea what thats all about. There is so much going on now I can't even keep up.

Yeah, lots of brush fires to keep an eye on
The thread is under International News -Security of US in danger via seaports.

pachelbel,
So,are you saying that whenever that many people gather,the govt should do what the protesters want?

That seems a little silly to me.
What if 250,000 people gather demanding that the govt pay for them each to have a brand new house,new car,and a 6 week paid vacation every year,paid for by the govt.
Should the govt do that?

It would be a splendid, refreshing development if governments listened, for a change. Many governments have gotten out of the habit.

They listen at election time. If enough people want change, change will happen.

The vocal minority gets owned by the silent majority though. I think it was Mysteryman that said "you don't have a right to be heard."

Mysteryman is wrong. There is a constitutional right to be heard. It is called Freedom of the Press. Where do you guys come up with such nonsense? It is amazing.

Really? Maybe as an adult, you should realize it is best to ignore those people. (Of course, considering your POV, you were probably taught many wrong behaviors)

Oh yes, I am an ass, if that is the meaning of your girly insinujation, Mystery Girl. But at least I am a smart-ass and not a dumb-ass.

I wonder if that is really the case. That you don't have a "right to be heard".

Do you both, McG and MM, really think that what the Constitution says is "you have the freedom to talk about anything you want, as long as it's at home in your basement"?

Absolutely not. You have every right to scream from the rooftops of the world, but I have the same right to ignore your rantings.

Just because you have the right to say something does not guarantee that anyone will or should listen to you. That's the point.

Protesters do so much good in the world...

********************************************************

Foes, soldier's mother counter protesters at funeral
Fringe Kansas church singles out Iraq dead
Associated Press

Six members of a fringe church in Kansas picketed Thursday outside the funeral of a Minnesota soldier who was killed in Iraq, leading to a heated exchange with the grieving mother.

The six men and women, standing outside the Anoka funeral for Cpl. Andrew Kemple, 23, who died Feb. 12 after his vehicle came under fire, are members of a church in Topeka, Kan., that espouses the belief that God is killing American soldiers because they fought for a country that tolerates homosexuality.

They were countered by a group of 20 affiliated with the Patriot Guard Riders, a rapidly growing nationwide movement organized to offset the fringe group's message.

"We're just trying to show honor and respect for families," said John Lutsch, a St. Cloud resident who heads the Minnesota branch of the Patriot Guard. "I was appalled when I read about these protests, that they'd use a solemn occasion like this as a forum for their views."

He was interrupted by Steve Drain, who bellowed that God hates gays and their enablers and "so, therefore, God hates the U.S. military."

According to an account reported by the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune, about a half-hour before the service, Deirdre Ostlund, Kemple's mother, approached the six Kansans and told them in a cold fury: "I'm Andrew's mother and I want you to know you are truly hateful people."

As Ostlund turned away to enter Zion Lutheran Church, Shirley Phelps-Roper taunted her: "Adulterer! You can't admit you sent your own child to hell! If she does not heed this warning, she will look up from hell with him."

Phelps-Roper is the daughter of Fred Phelps, the pastor of the nondenominational Westboro Baptist Church. During the 1990s, church members were known mostly for picketing funerals of AIDS victims.

Minnesota is one of at least 14 states considering laws that would make funeral protests illegal.

The Patriot Guard got its start in Kansas last October when motorcycle-riding veterans became fed up with the Westboro church's picketing and decided to show up and place themselves between the demonstrators and mourners. The organization has grown quickly with chapters in nearly every state and more than 8,700 members, about 100 of them so far in Minnesota, Lutsch said.

Just as the funeral service was starting Thursday, the six Kansans got into their van and drove away as the Patriot Guard mockingly serenaded them, "Hit the road, Jack, and don't you come back no more...."

A few minutes later, Deirdre Ostlund stood before a packed church sanctuary, just to the right of her son's flag-draped coffin.

"Nothing can separate us from the love of God, and Andrew knew that," said Ostlund, of Forest Lake. No matter what he did, God loved him. And now, nothing will ever separate me, or any of us, from Andrew."

Kemple was a 2001 graduate of Cambridge-Isanti High School. Inspired by the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he joined the Army in 2003.

The member of the 101st Airborne Division was the 30th military member from Minnesota to die in Iraq.

*************************************************

A bunch of idiots if you ask me.

Sure, you have the right to ignore my rantings. That's not the same as if I wouldn't have a right to be heard.

Because number one constitutes me screaming at the next street corner and you walking by and ignoring me. Number two constitutes me being forbidden to scream at the next street corner and you not being able to hear me (because the law says I can only scream in my own basement) - i.e. I have the right to speak free, but don't have the right to be heard.

See the difference?

Yep, typical lefties.



(Yuck.)

I don't recall saying protester's, or these protesters in particular were lefties. Did anyone else mention that? I must have missed it... Being an idiot does not automatically make one a lefty, but I can understand why you would jump to that conclusion.

Hmm, I think I was going by this:

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1877308#1877308

Which I don't see an answer to, in a quick perusal, so maybe not anything you did say.

Do you think that every single protest is wrong?

I readily admit that I think some are wrong. The above would be one.

Another category is protests I disagree with but think have the right to take place.

I see the difference, but it's not the difference being referred to by either MM or I.

Everyone has a right to protest, even the idiots in the article I posted above.

DEMANDING that your protest gets front page coverage of every newspaper in the country so people know about it is NOT a right protesters have. No one can MAKE anyone listen to your protest, thus you do not the right to be heard, but simply to make your protest.

Oh, alright. It's just that the "You have no right to be heard" struck me as a bit weird.

mcg wrote :
'DEMANDING that your protest gets front page coverage of every newspaper in the country so people know about it is NOT a right protesters have. No one can MAKE anyone listen to your protest, thus you do not the right to be heard, but simply to make your protest. '

basically i have to agree with you.
...but, who is the deciding force in which protests get covered , and which protests do not get covered ?

while i know there are no laws about it, i would think that it is the responsibility of a 'free press' to give somewhat even and unbiased coverage to all protest groups.
i also think that governments have a resonsibility to listen to protest groups since they form a part of the total population . i don't think governments can say : ' you didn't vote for me, so i won't listen to you'.
now, i don't think governments must respond to every protest movement, no matter how small , but governments would do well to take into account the opinions of various groups and their opinions.

isn't there are saying : ' the treatment of minorities by the majority tells much about a country and its government ' - i 'm sure that aren't the exact words, but i don't think i'm far off the meaning , am i ? hbg