Some pics and comments from today’s anti-war, anti-recruiter protest, the pro-troop response and the police who kept things calm. Three TV stations and a campaigning politician showed up.
All of the pics have more commentary with them so you can pull them up to get more of the story.
I’m going to talk about each group separately. You can scroll down to see each.
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My summary: a bunch of ignorant kids wasting tax dollars.
I’m sitting at Borders waiting for my pics to develop (I’m still old school - 35mm, I love the quality). So pics are forthcoming.
I arrived late, about 1:30. At that point the protesters almost outnumbered the police. Then some of them left. There were signs that I’ll have pics of and chants I couldn’t really understand most of the time.
The pro-troop protesters out-numbered the anti-war protesters. Some veteran-bikers, locals, three TV stations and some amateur and professional photographers.
Police were well outfitted, well organized and very professional.
Started at 12:30 (I assume). Scheduled to end at 5:30. Ended at 2:45. Some real die-hards, that bunch. After the anti-war protesters left (with police escorts to their cars) the police left and the pro-troops crowd took over the space.
Funniest thing was when the anti-war group stood up and assumed an aggressive posture against the police and pro-troop crowd. Police added a line of officers and the kids pretended to be a threatening menace.
In a word: Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha! (is that one word?)
An entry on TNT’s military blog “FOB Tacoma“:
Meantime, you all have probably seen the back-and-forth in the blogosphere about what is supposed to be a demonstration Saturday afternoon at the military recruiting station near the Tacoma Mall. Service members from across the area have advised to stay away – if you’re looking for front row parking, this may be your day. One anonymous organizer tells me via e-mail they aren’t looking for trouble and aren’t against the people in the military. Tacoma PD spokesman says he hopes that’s the case.
Part of me wonders if the comment from the organizer is an admission that it’s going to be a lame protest, like the ICE protest last year that was supposed to shut down downtown Tacoma (but could barely have shut down an intersection).
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Leave it to the media to report what they want to report, regardless of the facts. Here’s a link to the report (not the errant reports about the report) released by the Pentegon this week.
From the NY Sun (Report Details Saddam’s Terrorist Ties):
The report, released this week by the Institute for Defense Analyses, says it found no “smoking gun” linking Iraq operationally to Al Qaeda. But it does say Saddam collaborated with known Al Qaeda affiliates and a wider constellation of Islamist terror groups.
The Iraqi Intelligence Service in a 1993 memo to Saddam agreed on a plan to train commandos from Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the group that assassinated Anwar Sadat and was founded by Al Qaeda’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
The report also undercuts the claim made by many on the left and many at the CIA that Saddam, as a national socialist, was incapable of supporting or collaborating with the Islamist al Qaeda. The report concludes that instead Iraq’s relationship with Osama bin Laden’s organization was similar to the relationship between the rival Colombian cocaine cartels in the 1990s. Both were rivals in some sense for market share, but also allies when it came to expanding the size of the overall market.
I have some complaints about the way the Republican Party is run in Washington state. I think there is a climate of failure and fatalism that has squelched all attempts to revive the party at all levels.
There are a number of things, in my opinion, that need to change before the party will see successes in this state and be able to advance a more conservative agenda. Foremost among them is grassroots activism in the party.
Based on the February caucuses that seems to have begun. Crosscut.com has more.
In disaster are sown the seeds of re-birth and renewal, and the 2006 election was a disaster for Republicans. . .
The cause was three-fold: an unpopular president and war; an incorrect perception that all Republicans are like disgraced Ohio Rep.BobNey, who resigned after being implicated in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal; and profligate spending by GOP Senate and House members. Faced with a choice between wasteful Democrats and Republicans who spent like wasteful Democrats, voters opted for the real deal and elected wasteful Democrats.
I understand that signs of abuse can easily be missed, especially if no one is looking for them.
However, CPS caseworkers don’t show up at someone’s house without a reason. They show up because children may be in danger.
If the child killed by his mother last week was in danger (as indicated by the presence of a CPS caseworker) then why were two injuries to a child’s face overlooked?
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Harvard economists Radha Iyengar, Jonathan Monten have found a link between “war critical statements” in the U.S. media and “insurgent attacks”:
Are insurgents affected by information on US casualty sensitivity? Using data on attacks and variation in access to international news across Iraqi provinces, we identify an “emboldenment” effect by comparing the rate of insurgent attacks in areas with higher and lower access to information about U.S news after public statements critical of the war. We find in periods after a spike in war-critical statements, insurgent attacks increases by 5-10 percent. The results suggest that insurgent groups respond rationally to expected probability of US withdrawal. As such counterinsurgency should consider deterrence and incapacitation rather than simply search and destroy missions. [emphasis added] (more…)
Normally, comments in response to blog entries aren’t worth quoting, especially on other sites. But this one stood out to me (#61):
When I chose to live here four years ago, my first choice was Olympia but I found the large population of “trustafarians” roaming downtown rather off-putting. I own my own business and also found the government even less friendly towards business in Olympia than it is here in Tacoma.
Tacoma city needs to get its ducks in a row. The Economic Development Dept. is spending a lot of time and money to attract small business and the arts – meanwhile, Tax & Licensing is busily trying to squeeze blood from all the new growth turnips.
Since I’ve been here I have seen several other artists/businesses come and go. Tacoma has to work harder at retaining those they attract.
KYW in Philadelphia reports that elections officials in Philly are looking into voter registrations submitted by the group that appear faulty. They’ve turned it over to the district attorney for investigation.
Philadelphia elections officials are accusing the nonprofit advocacy group “Acorn” of filing fraudulent voter registrations in advance of the April 22nd Pennsylvania primary.
The problem seems to be invalid addresses. But ACORN blames the U.S. Post Office:
The city officials say many of the addresses listed on the registrations are invalid, but Acorn blames the post office for not adequately servicing low-income communities.
Uh huh. The Post Office forgets where all the poor people live. It’s a conspiracy.
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Michelle Malkin has received a copy of the memo that warned local military personnel and contractors to stay away from the Tacoma Mall this Saturday.
Excerpt (Tacoma portion):
3. (U//FOUO) KNOWN LOCATIONS AND EVENTS:
