San Diego Union Tribune: Battle lines are drawn in Texas

[question everything]

Battle lines are drawn in Texas

War protester's supporters, detractors converge

By Alex Roth
STAFF WRITER

August 13, 2005

CRAWFORD, Texas – A few miles down the road from President Bush's vacation ranch, a small patch of countryside has come to symbolize the fault line that has emerged in this country over the wisdom of the war in Iraq.

Along a dusty road yesterday morning, under the shade of several large oak trees, dozens of posters declared "Wage Peace" and asked "Who Would Jesus Bomb?" A man with dyed-orange hair strummed an acoustic guitar from atop a 1983 Volvo station wagon, and an anti-war group handed out pink umbrellas decorated with peace signs so protesters could shield themselves from the blistering Texas sun.

The war's defenders began arriving in late afternoon.

Several dozen Bush supporters, bused in from Dallas by a conservative radio talk-show host, staged a counterprotest, waving signs saying, "George, We Support You," and singing, "God Bless America."

At the center of all this hullabaloo is a Northern California woman named Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq and who has vowed to camp on the outskirts of Bush's ranch until the president grants her an audience or until he finishes his five-week vacation, whichever comes first.

More..

Alex Roth: [phone]; [e-mail]

Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050813/news_1n13protest.html

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. What a twit, the freepers didn't sing "God Bless America"

It was the Camp Casey folks who started singing it when the freepers show up.

[leesa]

10. Would you please write the author and set him straight? Thanks

[rodeodance]

18. done.

[SoCalDem]

2. "Battle lines bein' drawn.. what it is ain't exactly clear"...

reminiscent of my youth..



FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH
Stephen Stills (1966 & 1967 Cotillion Music, Inc.)
There's something happening here.
What it is ain't exactly clear.
There's a man with a gun over there,
Tellin' me I've got to beware!
I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound?
Ev'rybody look what's goin' down.

Battle lines bein' drawn,
Nobody's right if ev'ry body's wrong.
Young people speakin' their minds,
Getting so much resistance from behind.

I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound?
Ev'rybody look what's goin' down.

What a field day for the heat.
A thousand people in the street
Singin' songs and carryin' signs,
Mostly saying, "Hoo-ray for our side."

I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound?
Ev'rybody look what's goin' down.

Paranoi strikes deep,
into your life it will creep.
It starts when you're always afraid.
Step out of line the men come and take you away.

You better stop, hey, what's that sound?
Ev'rybody look what's goin' down.
You better stop, he, what's that sound?
Ev'rybody look what's goin' down . . .

LONGMIRE'S INTERPRETIVE NOTES:
This song was written in the immediate aftermath of the National Guard's killing of four students who were protesting the Viet Nam war at Kent State University in Ohio. The Gov. of Kentucky had issued deputized the National Guard and set them loose to "police" the campus distrubances. Some claim that they thought they had "blanks" in their weapons . . . others claim they knew what they were doing. It represents to me the "moral atmosphere" that surrounds a society which empowers it's "peacekeepers" to kill . . . or threaten the same. Everytime I think of the police as "warriors" this haunting song comes to mind. Whether we're calling for them to be "warriors" in the battle against crime, drugs, violence, terrorism, . . . I think the message of the song is salient: "Stop, children, what's that sound? Ev'rybody look what's goin' down."

http://www.shsu.edu/~icc_drl/FOR_WHAT_IT'S_WORTH.html

[othermeans]

3. "Tin soldiers and Nixon coming we're finally on our own"

[donco6]

7. IMO, the pinnacle of anti-establishment protest songs.

Still haunting after all these years.

[SoCalDem]

12. Listen to a clip here

http://music.com/performance/for_what_its_worth/58/

[yorkiemommie1]

16. our local cbs all news radio station started playing this in the

background sometime last year. then all of a sudden, it stopped!


SoCal, Los Angeles

[yorkiemommie1]

13. back then these songs got lots of airplay

i don't listen to the radio any more, except for AAR, so i don't

know how much airplay protest songs are getting, if any ?

[FtWayneBlue]

24. I called in for Edwin Starr's "War" dedicated to Cindy Sheehan

to the lunch hour listener's request and dedication line on oldies 101.7, WLDE Ft. Wayne, on Thursday. The DJ said, "What's the matter, aren't you and her getting along?" I don't think he had a clue who she was at that point. I said "No, we are just fine." So he played the song dedicated to her about 10 minutes later, saying her name on the air.

On Friday, I called in again and requested John Lennon's "Imagine" to be dedicated once again to Cindy Sheehan. The DJ said, "Sure, that' a great song. I would love to do it for you."

They played the song, BUT DID NOT MENTION THE DEDICATION REQUEST!

Phooey.

[madmom]

14. It was the murdering gov. of Ohio, James Rhoades, who sent the ....

guard not the gov. of Kentucky

[SoCalDem]

20. I just copied what was on the page.. oops on the writer linked

a rather long historical piece at this link..along with the names of the dead kids

http://www.spectacle.org/595/kent.html

[emmagee]

27. Stills' "For What It's Worth"

Not sure who "Longmire" is--the link comes up as an error--but the song written in response to the horrific events at Kent State in 1970 was "Ohio" by Neil Young and CSN. Stephen Stills' song was written in 1967 after L.A. cops overreacted to a "youth riot" on the Sunset Strip, if I remember correctly. ;-) EmmaG

[DS1]

4. Only a fucking idiot would support a man that goes on a 5 week vacation

in the middle of a somewhat global skirmish with typicaly harmful non-secular enthusiasm

[Bozita]

5. click on the "printer friendly" button and see more photos

like this one:

[frylock]

26. another shot i found to be very moving..

Bill Mitchell grieved for his son Army Sgt. 
Mike Mitchell, who was killed in Iraq. 
Mitchell joined protesters yesterday 
outside President Bush's Texas ranch.

[leesa]

6. What a cheesy article. Do you think he mentioned the guy's dyed hair

enough times? Did he forget the "I don't care" the sleazy warmongers were chanting?

[GalleryGod]

8. OUR side sang "God Bless America"-the bus people chanted "We don't care!"

Nice reporting, asswipes! :puke: :argh:

[IndianaGreen]

17. The video will make a great political ad!

Show the American people that their sons and daughters are dying for a bunch of rightwing lunatics that have nothing to offer other than shouts of "We don't care!"

Bush has reached the status of a deity, like Hitler, Mussolini, Caligula, Nero, and other tyrants of history. There is no difference between the Mike Gallagher and his prowar demonstrators, and the Nazi Brownshirts.

[rodeodance]

19. [e-mail] write to him and tell him. He needs to know.

[meow2u3]

29. I'd put a God Bless America sign, all right

GOD BLESS AMERICA--GOD DAMN BUSH!

[LibDemAlways]

9. Perhaps DUers could

e-mail Alex Roth and let him know he got the facts wrong. The freepers were the ones shouting "We Don't Care" while the anti-war group sang "God Bless America."

This story pisses me off because in addition to getting the facts wrong, Roth goes out of his way to portray Cindy's suppporters as a fringe group with comments like "dyed-orange hair" and "1983 Volvo station wagon."

I think he needs to hear from us.

[rodeodance]

23. yes, jam his mailbox----74,000plus!!

[Bumblebee]

11. being a very conservative paper, they love to point out

dyed-orange hair, guitar, old Volvo... Forgot to mention Birkenstocks! How come the polyester on the other side is not described? Because these are "real" Americans as opposed to easily-dismissable cultural stereotypes of the left? But then what else can we expect from the San Diego Union Tribune?

[GalleryGod]

15. Please use Roth's link! I just informed him that he got it wrong

At the very least we can fill-up this asswipe's mailbox!
Only takes two minutes! Can I get an AMEN !?

GG:smoke:

[rodeodance]

21. amen

[rodeodance]

22. "Several dozen Bush supporters" cnn, today, keeps saying 100-over

and over on their headline news.

[loudsue]

25. How TOTALLY irresponsible of that radio station. What are they

trying to do? Start a riot? Why do the repukes insist on trying to throw gasoline on a fire?

It just further proves my opinion that rightwing radio is deepening the divide in America....just for SPORT! And they want to talk about being "patriotic"? Bull feathers. They hate this country and our freedoms, and they're trying to cause a civil war...outright fighting and rebellion, between the two divided groups.

For every decent, arguable point that the conservatives MIGHT have, they ruin the chance for argument by the WAY they are framing and stating their position. It's mean spirited, inflammatory, and downright dangerous. And nobody in power is trying to stop it.

THAT IS TOTOALLY IRRESPONSIBLE LEADERSHIP! THAT IS LACK OF LEADERSHIP!

And I'm really sick of it.

Shipping a busload of freepers to a peaceful rally is the stupidest thing I've ever imagined. They're making terrorists out of people who would normally only be "conservative". They're not even trying for reasonable debate.

:kick::kick::kick:

[YvonneCa]

28. My take's a little different on the article in the S D Union...

...as a San Diego resident...I'm glad to see the paper even COVERED this story. I agree they were biased, but covering the story is a BIG step for this conservative paper.:patriot:

[Liberty Belle]

30. I agree, and the photo on page 1 was worth 1,000 words.

Who cares about orange hair? One look at that man grieving for his son and it's clear what Cindy Sheehan's protest is really all about.