We can't believe it has been five years that the US has been in iraq. The war and occupation has lasted longer than WW II and there is no end in sight. The people of the Twin Cities showed their displeasure by taking to the streets. Nearly 2000 persons protested and their unique signs and mostly solemn faces tell the whole story. Not surprisingly, I didn't see any signs declaring that "war is romantic", which is what George W. Bush said the other day. Instead, I saw signs that were critical of torture, killing of innocent civilians, and crony capitalism. Those are the kinds of things that Barack Obama's preacher was complaining about; that doesn't sound like the rhetoric of a "crazy uncle" to me. He sounds like a man of the cloth.
Organizers of the rally included Women Against Military Madness, Military Families Speak Out, YAWR, The Anti-War Committee, and Veterans for Peace, to name a few. A lot of members of the First Universalist Church of Minneapolis participated and they were easily recognized by their blue hats. The protest began at Lake and Lyndale Ave with members of Youth Against War and Racism (YAWR) meeting at a US Army recruiting center. Afterwards, YAWR joined the main group at Lake and Hennepin and the everyone walked from there to Loring Park. The entire protest was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
ps. Is Feingold single? Someone in Minneapolis wants to know (see sign below).
More images at CircleVision.org (not mine)
"It must be exciting for you ... in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. " George W Bush.
Chickenhawks have a much different view of war than those of us who are real war veterans. I've read some of the comments on the right-wing sites about the photos here. One even criticized the families of the soldiers for wearing yellow ribbons as being so passe. When my brother-in-law was in Iraq we worried for his safety daily. Is criticism of the families of the soldiers part of the right's strategy of blaming everyone who doesn't agree with the policy?
Posted by: KB: Likwidshoe, Here is your quote | March 18, 2008 at 08:04 AM
From Likwidshoe's blog's comments (the reader's comment is about Likwidshoe's description of a women in one of my photos (Likwidshoe's writing in quotes): "Glad to see this girl put on donned a burka to show her solidarity with all the Muslim women who just love to wear them. It’s good to support cultural differences right? Even if those differences are enforced by beatings."
First, she’s wearing a niqab, not a burka. Second… since you don’t even know the difference, are you sure you’re qualified to state that the only reason Islamic women keep the hijab is because they are beaten? This will be a surprise to one helluva lot of Muslim women, that’s for damn sure.
Todd on March 17, 2008 at 01:58 pm
Oh, and this is just too obvious… but:
"Glad to see this girl put on donned a burka to show her solidarity with all the Muslim women who just love to wear them."
Gee.... isn’t it possible that she wore a niqab because… I don’t know… because she’s a Muslim?
Posted by: KB: Does Likwidshoe have problems with religious tolerance? | March 18, 2008 at 08:41 AM
Has anyone had trouble getting here from google??? I had to load Mozilla to get to anything related to this page.......
From google, even tho I typed in the entire url, I got all adverts?!
Guess I shouldn't be too amazed ...
SDS - an oldster like me LOVES to see that!
Posted by: rebel yell | March 18, 2008 at 08:54 PM
Noam Chomsky is emeritus professor of linguistics and philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This is taken from Chomsky's Opinion piece in today's Age:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/voices-go-unheard-as-iraq-carnage-continues/2008/03/18/1205602383433.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
Thanks to the generosity of Jordan and Syria, the millions of refugees fleeing the wreckage of Iraq, including most of the professional classes, have not been simply wiped out. But that welcome is fading, for one reason because Jordan and Syria receive no meaningful support from the perpetrators of the crimes in Washington and London; the idea that they might admit these victims, beyond a trickle, is too outlandish to consider. Sectarian warfare has devastated Iraq. Baghdad and other areas have been subjected to brutal ethnic cleansing and left in the hands of warlords and militias, the primary thrust of the current counterinsurgency strategy developed by General David Petraeus, who won his fame by pacifying Mosul, now the scene of some of the most extreme violence.
Posted by: not my president | March 18, 2008 at 10:01 PM
I got news for the goofy-looking gal holding the "phallic-like weapons" sign:
Russ Feingold is a real man 'bout like Paris Hilton is a rocket scientist.
That said, the lead editorial in today's "Wall Street Journal" (www.opinionjournal.com) is more learned, more informed, and more sane than anything you anti-war nutbuckets have said and/or thinked in the last, oh, 36 months.
Idiots, the lot of you ...
Posted by: Joltin' Django | March 20, 2008 at 08:01 PM
We got a troll!
Posted by: Liberal | March 20, 2008 at 08:50 PM
The trolls show up when we are having an impact.
Posted by: Kayakbiker | March 20, 2008 at 11:51 PM
KB, learn to read. That comment you attributed to me wasn't written by me.
As for "religious tolerance": I'm cool with every religion that doesn't want to kill me. I am under no obligation to be tolerant to religions such as Islam. Can you tolerant that opinion?
As for the Bush quote, it doesn't mean what you claim it does. No surprise there, eh?
Thanks for playing.
Posted by: likwidshoe | September 15, 2008 at 07:02 AM
looks like liquidshoe was back
Posted by: Not Tina | September 15, 2008 at 09:50 AM
What the heck. I was supposedly quoted up above by KB. Just one problem: the words aren't mine.
I know I've corrected the record at this blog about those misquoted words before. The "Silenced Majority" is a wee-bit hypocritical.
Posted by: likwidshoe | December 24, 2008 at 02:25 AM
Ahh, I see that I missed the "Next" link for the rest of the comments.
Whatever.
"Not Tina" - you're pretty observant! Good job. Maybe I can take a cue from you and notice the "Next" tab. Heh.
Posted by: likwidshoe | December 24, 2008 at 02:28 AM
Why are wingnuts longing nostalgically for the past around Christmas?
Posted by: Slugbug | December 24, 2008 at 08:08 AM
The war isn't over. Coleen Rowley requested I attend an anti-war caroling event to video tape it for Youtube. I had a schedule conflict and was unable to attend, but I told her in my reply that just because Obama was elected, that doesn't mean we have a progressive agenda in place. The Wars are not over and neither is our work. I look forward to working with her in the future to achieve our progressive goals.
I don't think Liwidshoe's time is well spent defending Bush or his decisions.
Posted by: Kayakbiker | December 24, 2008 at 08:25 AM
It is always amusing when lying propagandists dissect and/or describe my words and actions.
Thank you Slugbug and Bert.
Just keep saying "Progressive" and maybe one day it won't mean regressive anymore.
Posted by: likwidshoe | January 11, 2009 at 12:44 PM