Dissent is patriotic!!!
Especially this kind!!!!
The scene: Jackson Hole, WY, in front of Dick Cheney’s house.
The date: Saturday August 11, 2007
Can’t stomach watching the vid? Here’s the story (photos included):
WILSON, Wyo. — Demonstrators gathered Saturday afternoon at the rustic crossroads of U.S. Highway 22 and the Village Road to protest the war in Iraq and local resident Vice President Dick Cheney.
Following anti-war speeches and folksy, 60s-style sing-a-longs, the crowd of about 250—ranging in age from toddlers in strollers to a 92-year-old woman—marched peacefully along the mile-plus county bike path before assembling outside the gates of the tony Teton Pines Country Club where the vice president owns a home.
Cheney, who earlier in the day attended the dedication of Grand Teton Park’s new visitor center, honoring the late Senator Craig Thomas of Wyoming, did not appear at the rally or the protest outside his residence.
Military veterans, friends, families, at least one politician and unaffiliated individuals carrying anti-war signs and other messages – some demanding the vice president’s impeachment and accusing the White House of lying about why America invaded Iraq — attended the event.
“No more blood of children. Not theirs, not ours” read one cardboard and black marker sign hanging around the neck of a young boy standing near a makeshift stage.
During the pre-march rally, a towering effigy of the vice president, carrying a fishing pole and squirting oil derrick, and smaller bust of President Bush, with red devil’s horns, was unveiled to hoots, hollers and other expressions of approval prior to performances by musicians and speakers.
Nick Rowley, a veteran of the war in Bosina who said he served in the military for six years and left just before 9/11, spoke at length about what he thought supporting the troops in Iraq meant.
“What you all are doing here is you’re here supporting the troops” Rowley told the crowd. “We need more of that…As soldiers we make a promise to fight for freedom and we expect to be sent into harm’s way only when necessary and for the right reason.”
About the official rationale for going to war, Rowley added, “It’s all based on a lie. The morale (among the troops) is not good. It’s only getting worse and no one is doing anything about it.”
Outstretching his arms while rubbing his thumbs along his fingertips, Rowley continued, “We’re there for money, for oil, for Halliburton. We’re not there for freedom or any American reason.”
[…]
Upon rolling the wobbly, 11-foot tall effigy over a mile to the front gate of Cheney’s residence, shouting protesters waved anti-war signs at passing and honking motorists, as U.S. Secret Service officers sitting in a black truck and sheriff’s deputies looked on, while Stanford hung a lasso around the effigy’s neck.
To the chants of “No more war” Stanford, Spence and others toppled the Cheney effigy a second time, knocking the head off as it smashed into the pavement. The delighted crowd applauded and hollered in mock victory as a man draped in a white beach towel, waving an American flag, kicked the effigy’s head toward the busy street.
During the early days of the Iraq war, American soldiers and Iraqis memorably toppled a statue of Saddam Hussein that had stood in Baghdad.
Anyone know where I can find a time machine, so we can stuff all these idiots in it and send ’em back to the 70s where they belong with the rest of the protesters, many of whom looked like they hadn’t bathed in days, either?
Dissent might be patriotic, but idiocy is not.