Posted on 09/24/2005 8:33:53 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES - Drums pounded, voices boomed and whistles shrieked as thousands of demonstrators marched in the shadows of downtown skyscrapers Saturday to protest America's involvement in Iraq, one of several California demonstrations on a day of protests across the country.
The crowd, a mix of people ranging from mothers pushing baby strollers to spiky haired punk rockers, chanted for an end to the bloodshed and waved signs that said, "Who would Jesus have bombed?" and "War is not the answer."
Police closed a downtown street to accommodate the protest, which they said drew an estimated 15,000 people. Protests across the country - including one in Washington, D.C., that was the largest in the capital since the U.S. invasion - came at a time when public support for the war and the Bush administration have been slipping.
"We went to Iraq to bring them peace and we are killing them, enslaving them," said demonstrator Arline White, 41, of suburban Monrovia. "We should start a gradual withdrawal of troops, but we've left a mess."
In San Francisco, several thousand protesters packed Dolores Park for an anti-war rally late Saturday morning, chanting slogans and waving signs that read "U.S. Out of Iraq," "Impeach Bush" and "How Many Lives Per Gallon?"
Protester Helen Lin, 23, of San Francisco, said she was discharged from the California National Guard last year because she refused to go to Iraq. Wearing a camouflage military uniform and a sign that read "I didn't sign up for this," she said she opposed the war.
The war "is for all the wrong reasons," Lin said. "The troops should be brought home now. Many of my battle buddies have already died. I don't think they should have gone to begin with."
Carilyn Goldammer of Arcata, 57, an elementary school teacher, said, "I think it's important that we show our numbers. Our government and our senators need to know that we don't want this war. There's no real reason for it."
In San Diego, more than 2,000 protesters marched through downtown to a city park where they displayed mock coffins commemorating the deaths of Iraqi civilians and white crosses to represent fallen American soldiers. A small group of counter-protestors turned out to support the war.
Linda Tubach, 52, a high school teacher who took part in the Los Angeles demonstration, was being pulled around by her Dalmation, which was festooned with a large, spotted peace medallion to match the dog's black-and-white coat.
"I would like to see immediate withdrawal and reparations paid to the Iraqi people," said Tubach, who said she visited Iraq in 2001 on a medical aide mission. "We attacked a defenseless country."
The marches were largely peaceful, although two people were arrested in Los Angeles detained for vandalism.
YES!! I use this statement all the time when confronted by the "peace loving" hypocrites.
I say to them BEFORE a discussion on the Iraq campaign. Were you in favor of the operation in Serbia and Kosovo?
If they say Yes. Then I say we have nothing to discuss over Iraq. The operation is the same.
If they say No. Then we can have a discussion. And depending on their point of view. I may just have to respect that.
I don't know, but he drowned the entire world except for eight people.
Well, you can take that up with Him when you see Him.
Not me, my arms are too short to box with God.
"Also, the first cousin problem disappears in generation 2 or 3 at the latest..."
Uh, no, not even close to disappearing. Remember, cheetahs all descend from 7 survivors (with subsequent genetic identity); you're assuming 6 survivors.
That's all - 6 individuals, 3 of whom share genetic material already. I don't care how many bloody kids you assume, the genetic material doesn't increase.
Where did all that OTHER DNA come from? I DO hope you're not suggesting Our Ancestors engaged in bestiality as well as incest.
"I can tell you are a new timer."
Oh, well, "no fool like an old fool"...
Thought so.
I know its aggravating, but its also a little bit entertaining for some of us looking in at this hour of the morning. :-)
Why would I assume a 30 year reproductive generation, or only 4 children per family?
Didn't Noah live for another two or three hundred years after the flood, and his sons also? And, if their sons and daughters also lived very long lives, which some of them were said to have lived, couldn't that have pushed the replacement rate upward somewhat? Seems pretty quick, if they had a mind to, the population spurt would look just like one of them "J" curves. :-)
Yep, they could. What I really like are first cousin arguments and about genetic material and how it doesn't increase, and so on. When the whole argument of evolution is that it does. Anyway the contradiction is well worth the chuckle.
Still believing that Jesus Christ is a mass murderer?
I thank MY God that I don't worship YOUR God.
Hmmm, providing for open elections is enslaving? What a moroon...
The flood was not about murder but of judgment, and just punishment. (Again, you need to read what the bible say's. It's pretty easy to understand, really.)
I thank MY God that I don't worship YOUR God.
What God is that? Mother Nature?
Jesus Christ is the good shepard, but he will separate the sheep from the goats. So just don't be a goat.
"Thousands of Californians protest Iraq war"
"Millions of Americans Continue to Ignore Them"
Oh my goodness. You seem to have invented your God, made him up in your own mind and assigned him attributes that YOU approve of. My God invented me AND the Flood, as well.
Great post. All I will say to the "thousands" in
Californai is...If we pull out of Iraq...what you
will hear..is not an earthquake...but your shopping
spree at the mall..is a suicide bomber waiting for you..
and you will know it is not a quake...Just elect the
likes of Hillary or Kerry or any of these types and
you have the Clinton hand wringers..and they will
want to arrest these "bad guys"...I am with Bush..
Just kill, baby..kill. Jake
I shudder to think what this world would look like had Hitler not been opposed.
I shudder to think what this world would look like with all of us under Sharia law, hunting down Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and the followers of the religion of the non-God, Atheists. The fact that so many of our fellow citizens have no clue to what is written in the Suras, Hadiths, or know who Tabari was is another example of our culture, more interested in men dressing like women, that last episode of Lost, or who won the big game.
People, PEOPLE -- we are fighting the latest expansion by the sword of Islam. This war has never ended, began in the 7th century AD, no peace was ever signed, no treaty ever respected, wake up and defend yourselves.
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