You are viewing life through a pin hole. You are missing so much.

Remember when we thought peace activists were only black militants and hippies? Remember when we thought they all smelled bad from traveling to a march and sleeping in their cars? Remember when we were too shy or too apathetic to join in, even when the cause was right?
Today we are all ages, all colors.

Last night, along with 40 or so others, I shared a street corner with a 93 year old woman, a 12 year old girl, and college students as we held signs to tell the people of Kent, Ohio that we want the war to end. We want our troops home.

Last Saturday, I walked with people of all ages in Akron, Ohio to say the same thing. The ages of the protestors ranged from a 3 month old baby in a carrier to 80-somethings. Even the old people did the entire peace march up and down hills on a hot day.

This past Saturday evening, I stood silent vigil over 90 empty pairs of combat boots that represented the fallen soldiers from my state. Just that morning, we had to add the 90th pair. Nearby, two mothers of fallen marines cried and held each other. Others around them wept silently. There were to be no signs or protests. But no one would dare tell the mother of one of the men that she couldn’t wear her shirt that read “George Bush, international terrorist.”

This is the real United States that we are living in. 78% of some respondents to a recent poll say they believe the war was begun under false pretenses. They want our troops out now. Right now.

These are your fellow Americans:
http://websrvr20.audiovideoweb.com/avwebdswebsrvr2143/news_video/march512K.mov

Widen your pin hole and take a good long look at what is really happening.

Wow. Teena.

78% of some respondents to a recent poll say they believe the war was begun under false pretenses

Does your rectal area smart after pulling that unsubstantiated thing out of there?

protestors ranged from a 3 month old baby

Did you interview the baby? What were the baby's political leanings? Did it go poopy in its diaper?

we want the war to end. We want our troops home

Yup, so long as our troops are home, you could give a nut less that Iraq would collapse into anarchy and people would die in numbers that make the current toll seem like a pin prick. But, boy, it sure is great that our troops are home. Those Iraqis? Screw 'em.

That pin hole you mentioned, Teena? You're the one looking through it.

Teena, you are the one looking through the pinhole, one born of your inherent, smug, white racist view of the world. So smug are you in your holier than thou , like your anscestors of 30 years ago that left my forefathers' country to bleed and die, that you miss the entire point. They CAUGHT THE MEDIA SELECTING IMAGES from the protests to crop out the FACT that people who glorify the butchers who killed so man of my aunt and uncles are DIRECTING these evil little scum. They are the cousins of the scum who murdered a million of my countrymen.

You dare to be so smug as to superimpose your little experience at a protest, full of fellow smug know it alls, over the experiences of people who've been there? You make up data, like Ryan said, and even if you were taking it from the media, as Mitch shows us, the media themselves make damn sure the images they present us are as stilted against the war as can be.

You are looking through much worse than a piinhole, Teeena.

Thank you, Nguyen. You have many friends.

If the protesters had any knowledge of history whatsoever, they would realize they are aligned not with a peace movement, but with the useful idiots of a communist tyranny that would slaughter them all just as soon as their service was no longer useful.

The sick irony is doctored photos, false reporting, and verbatim North Vietnamese communist propaganda tracts were daily fare on American editorial pages and network television and radio broadcasts throughout the Vietnam War and beyond, which shaped a generation that had no internet to expose it. We had to wait some 20 years for the scholarship to reveal the perfidy of the American "anti-war" movement and its communist alignment. Your family's blood and millions of others' who perished in the SEAsian killing fields remains on their hands, and yet we are still burdened today with countless bloody Teenas who still think that's something glorious.

So Saturday she stood over 90 pairs of empty symbols defaming brave young men and women who gave their lives for the freedoms we enjoy today. Talk about pearls before swine, but regrettably, that's the price of freedom.

So have at it, bloody Teena. Do your worst. But at the end of the day, do not lament the fact your myopic, ignorant, self-serving and self-absorbed worldview is held in utmost contempt for defiling the memory of those brave young souls, who purchased with their lives your opportunity to be just another idiot American stuck on stupid.

What a waste; what a bloody shame.

I don't buy ZombieTime's contention that this image conveys a positive image about the anti-war protesters. The eyes, the fist, the scarf; burning, righteous, faceless anger wins sympathy for no cause. She looks dangerous, like her backpack is going to go off at any moment.

Blofeld-
It certainly is a more positive image than the ones wide angle pics show. The ubiquitous masks, the Palestinian solidarity flags, The older commie putting the much younger marchers through their paces. I think you make a mistake when you call them anti-war protestors, they aren't for peace, they're on the side of the jihadists.
I don't think the pic is as an egregious example of bias as Mitch does; the cropped version is more striking. It makes a better picture.

"You are viewing life through a pin hole."

Not so much darlin', at least not since I got bored of looking through your ears and twisting your head to see all of the pretty colors.

The Chron rebutted with an extremely lame, (and telling) piece yesterday..follow Mitch's link to Zombitime for the update..it's hilarious!!

ps: Blohard, you forget..we understand who the intended audience was..

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!

Pick, pisk, pick. Swallowed enough flesh yet?
Just when I thought I was writing in English, many of you point out you have missed my point.
Here it is in simpler terms:
People in this country, for the most part, do not want our troops to be in Afghanistan or Iraq. They want justice, peace, equality. The range of ages, ethnic backgrounds, wealth, political affiliations,religious bckgrounds, etc, behind this sentiment is vast. The typical protester is no longer what we remember from the 70's. I shared my experiences so you would understand what I have seen and experienced in just two weekends. Sharing our experiences is what helps us understand each other and get along better. This is my desire, but I can see it is not the desire of most posters here. I may be called a troll, but I am not a hate-filled troll. Nor do I believe as many of you must believe - that the war that now has created a huge divide in our country is necessary. Why not let the people of Afghanistan and Iraq govern themselves? Otherwise, we're just occupiers of their countries. Invasion and occupation never works to the benefit of the people of the victimized country.

Why not let the people of Afghanistan and Iraq govern themselves?

Teena. . .

Perhaps your memory doesn't extend past last Tuesday, but unless you're being purposefully obtuse, you'll remember that, prior to our intervention, Afghanistan was "governed" by the Taliban, and there's no possible reason to think that, if we were to pull out now and leave the Afghans to their own designs, the Taliban wouldn't swoop right back in again. As for Iraq, how much "governing" would the people be able to do with Zarqawi and company setting up permanent shop? But, again, Teena, I suspect you don't much care about what happens to those people, and your grasp of history doesn't seem to extend much past 1999. That you think a three month old baby constitutes a "protester" tells me pretty much everything I need, or want, to know about you.

Teena,

I wrote a long response to your comment, and it disappeared.

It's actually something I'm going to post about later today.

Look closer at Shelley Eades's photograph. The ratio of the image is 1.33:1, the same as 35mm film. The depth of field is very shallow. The only details in focus are on the protester's face. This is the photograph as it was composed and shot. The protester, Jasmine Williams, is the subject of it. ZombieTime contends that the Chronicle should have "zoomed out" to reveal the truth. You cannot zoom out into nothing. Even if Shelley Eades could re-take the photograph at a wider angle and with greater depth of focus, it wouldn't reveal the same peripheral information; the protester was captured at different times with different signs surrounding her. How to explain the discrepancy: conspiracy or chaos? How to explain the framing: willful omission or arresting composition?

I believe ZombieTime has discovered a revealing micro-narrative about this individual protester with his series of digital snaps, but he hasn't proven intent by the Chronicle to subliminally convey a palatable image of the protest. The overall impression is still angry, exotic, even dangerous, but not luridly sensationalistic, which disappoints ZombieTime.

Ryan, don't you think it odd that the Bush administration only found the Taliban's governing style troublesome after they had plans for a natural gas and oil pipeline in place and the Taliban refused their initial financial deal? This is well documented - GOOGLE it. I also find it odd that the 9/11 commission didn't think this, or Able Danger, were worth exploring much. I guess national security isn't all that important o some people.
I mentioned the 3 month old baby at the march because I was struck by the diversity of the ages (we'll never know just what that baby was thinking, though, will we?) and the sheer conviction and will of the elderly people to get out there on a hot day and complete the whole thing while carrying signs no less.
Being rather conservative, I had never done something quite this "public" before and wondered how it would feel. It was great and felt no more like an empty gesture than watching a football game and not really helping my team to win.

Oh boy, the pipeline again. T< do as you suggest we do and Google it. There was a tentative plan, but given up years before when shown to be infeasible. The Russians tried to resuscitate it when they were in (sort of) control, and could use a much shorter route - and gave it up when they found even that would be counterproductive. It came up again when we invaded, but not from any business or government, just critics screaming "Halliburton! It's all about oil!"

I don't like war. I would like our troops relatively safe in places where people are not deliberately trying to kill them. And I believe the Iraqis for the most part do not want our military undetaking missions in their country - yet as many Iraqis have said, "We want the foreign troops out - but not yet."

But do keep active, on whichever side of various concerns. It is an involved citizenry which can keep alive the possibilities of a citizen-run polity. Without dissent, there would be no thought - and a descent into a top-down oligarchy rather than the messy bottom-up freedom to work for change, improvement, growth.

Hmm, Teena, where IS that oil pipeline today, anyhow? Just so you know, oh ye of the "they shot down the plane in Pennsylvania" conspiracies, just because something appears in a Google search, does not mean it is WELL DOCUMENTED.

And, Teena, you're about as conservative as a gay orgy in Times Square.

Teena, both John and Ryan have pointed out why you seem to arouse so much ire in this forum; you *constantly* regurgitate stories that have been debunked, not just recently, but for *years*.

Next time Israel v. Palestine becomes a topic, I half-expect you to post a link to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

That's not good. Think about it.

Oh, and speaking of being struck: I went to the protest a week ago in St. Paul. I noticed the diversity in age - from about 20 to 70 - and the diversity in skin color, from pale white to semi-tan white. No arabs. No kurds. No Poles or Hungarians or Bulgars or Albanians, oddly enough.

I also noted how crushingly ignorant every single one of them seemed when challenged on their assumptions.