Posted on 03/19/2008 10:20:23 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - Police arrested more than a dozen people who crossed a barricade and blocked entrances at the Internal Revenue Service building Wednesday, the start of a day of protests marking the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
A crowd of more than 100 gathered outside the IRS headquarters, chanting "This is a Crime Scene" and "You're Arresting the Wrong People." A marching band led protesters down the street near the National Mall and around the IRS building before dozens of demonstrators gathered at the entrance.
Protesters blocked the main entrance for a time, but no federal workers appeared to be trying to use those doors. Police detained 13 people who sat down at a side entrance.
The demonstrators said they were focusing on the IRS because it gathers taxes that are used to fund the war.
Anti-war protests and vigils were planned throughout the day around the nation. In Ohio, more than 20 different vigils, rallies, marches and other events were planned.
At the American Petroleum Institute in downtown Washington, dozens of protesters held signs reading "Out of Iraq" and "No war, no warming," and chanted "No blood for Oil!"
Craig Etchison, 62, a retired college professor from Cumberland, Md., and a Vietnam veteran, said he has been protesting the war for years.
"I've watched with horror as Bush has lied about this war," he said in front of the building. "I'm appalled at the number of civilians we've killed just as we did in Vietnam."
College students from New Jersey to North Dakota have planned walkouts, while students at the University of Minnesota vowed to shut down military recruiting offices on campus.
"This is the first time coordinated direct actions of civil disobedience are happening," said Barbra Bearden, communications manager for the group Peace Action. "People who have never done this kind of action are stepping up and deciding now is the time to do it."
In suburban Miami, Linda Belgrave, a sociology professor at the University of Miami, and a handful of protesters dressed in black waved anti-war signs at drivers stuck in early morning rush-hour traffic near the U.S. Southern Command complex. Belgrave said the group planned to lay flowers at the complex's entry fence later Wednesday morning.
"This is the beginning of the sixth year of this horror and it's got to end," said Belgrave.
On Tuesday, 10 people were arrested at an anti-war rally in upstate New York. About 60 people participated in the demonstration that started at Binghamton University campus and moved through the street to a military recruiting station. Police said the demonstrators tied up traffic in the town of Vestal, N.Y., causing two traffic accidents.
The Iraq war has been unpopular both abroad and in the United States, although an Associated Press-Ipsos poll in December showed that growing numbers think the U.S. is making progress and will eventually be able to claim some success in Iraq.
The findings, a rarity in the relentlessly unpopular war, came amid diminishing U.S. and Iraqi casualties and the start of modest troop withdrawals. Still, majorities remain upset about the conflict and convinced the invasion was a mistake, and the issue still splits the country deeply along party lines.
Activists cite frustration that the war has dragged on for so long and hope the more dramatic actions will galvanize others to protest.
“At the American Petroleum Institute in downtown Washington, dozens of protesters held signs reading “Out of Iraq” and “No war, no warming,” and chanted “No blood for Oil!””
Wow, you’d think the oil we’re stealing from Iraq would keep the prices down for our refineries.
Reuters has it as
Thirty-two arrested in Washington antiwar protest
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080319/us_nm/iraq_usa_protests_dc;_ylt=AleWrzBZB0_n2zB0t_ifNous0NUE
Members of CODEPINK, including co-founder Medea Benjamin, right, take part in an Iraq War demonstration outside the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in Washington, Wednesday, March 19, 2008, during a protest on the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
If these clowns ever get their way, I propose we start a similar protest to keep our taxes from funding welfare bums and illegal aliens. That oughta get those idiots' attention.
.
Police arrest an Iraq War demonstrator outside the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in Washington, Wednesday, March 19, 2008,, during a protest on the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
The findings, a rarity in the relentlessly unpopular war, came amid diminishing U.S. and Iraqi casualties and the start of modest troop withdrawals. Still, majorities remain upset about the conflict and convinced the invasion was a mistake, and the issue still splits the country deeply along party lines.
Activists cite frustration that the war has dragged on for so long and hope the more dramatic actions will galvanize others to protest.
Gee, no bias here. Nor are there source references to back up these claims.
A whole 100? WOW!!!
Don’t these morons work or have jobs? How do they pay their bills and eat? Jeez!
saw a piece recently that the head of AP said efforts to have “open government” and supporting ‘sunshine’ on governmental ops were failing or continue to be blocked from being enacted.
too bad ap didn’t have a full disclosure as to whose side they are on... altho, as you note, their bias is clear as day.
Not even big enough for a good yard sale.
Code Stink becoming more irrelevant with each passing day.
Have you ever seen a more ugly group of bitches?
“At the American Petroleum Institute in downtown Washington, dozens of protesters held signs reading “Out of Iraq” and “No war, no warming,” and chanted “No blood for Oil!”
So the creepsters all live in huts in the mountains with no electricity, walked to the demonstration, don’t own cars, use plastic, watch television, use computers, or bath.
And Lord you really hit these people with the ugly stick but HARD, especially Funky Cold Medina.
I pity the police that have to even look at let alone touch these creeps.
lol.. I got to squeegee my screen. lol
Tag her and bag her!
arrests also made in SF at the Federal Reserve Bank
Anti-war protests in Calif yield arrests, though mostly peaceful
http://www.bakersfield.com/119/story/393423.html
AP
Police arrested a handful of anti-war protesters outside the Federal Reserve Bank here at the start of daylong demonstrations and vigils to mark the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Protests were planned up and down California on Wednesday. They were expected to draw large crowds, though remain mostly peaceful.
Police deployed additional resources in San Francisco’s financial district to “to help facilitate First Amendment activities or to take enforcement action,” said Sgt. Steve Manina. He said a handful of people had been arrested, though couldn’t pinpoint an exact number.
Anti-war protester Alex Roselle said demonstrators targeted the Federal Reserve Bank to “call attention to the way the bank has been providing the foundation for the corporate pillaging of Iraq.”
He said protesters hoped to turn the city into a “festival of resistance against the Iraq war, the occupation and the corporate greed that’s been driving it all.”
It’s raining like hell now in DC. :-)
How about seniors being treated like our men in uniform when it comes to protesting the government. They are drawing a government check, so protest not allowed.
I know our freepers are prepared, kind of worried the anti-war whacks will act like turkeys tho, look up into the falling rain and drown.
I am a “compassionate” conservative , after all. ;-)
“How do they pay their bills and eat?”
Communist Party usually is behind any payments for these types to protest in this manner. I’ve read they get enough to buy a couple of cases of beer and a bag of Pretzels.
Back when the hippies were protesting general crap in the 1970’s, the Boston Tactical Police Squad would get to the protest scene before the crowds got there and let the horses relieve themselves. then whe they dragged the protesters off to jail, they got a nice drag though the poop.
OK idiots, IT'S NOT VIETNAM!!!
Per #9: I remember her , Her names Butterfly. Met her at the first the ffirst Pentagon march back in the 60’s. Geee she sure did grow old, but it appears she didn’t grow up.
WTOP’s message board on these creepsters:
http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=25&sid=1368458&comments=true#postit
Too funny.
This jumped out at me too. Amazing what passes for journalism isn’t it?
Thanks for the update!
God bless our troops on the ground and in harm’s way.
Where does that guy Medea Benjamin get money to travel from Washington DC to San Fran. all the time? I don’t think he has a job?
Takin’ out the trash.
Code Pink has money and backers, and plenty of both..
“Where does that guy Medea Benjamin get money to travel from Washington DC to San Fran. all the time? I don’t think he has a job?”
Ah, while I know it’s probably hard to tell, the butt ugly Medea Benjamin is, well, at least was born, er, ah, a “wymyn”.
Barf alert: just imagine going home to THAT at night!
excerpted piece on Medea Benjamin,, hers is one of 5 profiles in this piece from the Mercury News..
MEDEA BENJAMIN, PEACE ACTIVIST
'I can't believe we've done this'
For Medea Benjamin, queen of San Francisco's anti-war community and co-founder of activist group CodePink, life since the invasion has been a head-banging quest for global sanity. The past five years have recast her fate, made her a hated symbol to war supporters and left her both emboldened and embittered.
While others find America treading a noble path against terrorism, Benjamin can no longer find America at all.
"This war has shaken my faith in the American people," she says. "In the days before it began, I felt helpless and horrified that so many innocent lives would be lost. I've been back to Iraq five times, and each time I've seen more death, more suffering, more lives destroyed. And I can't believe we've done this to the cradle of civilization."
As she spreads her message, from disrupting congressional hearings to bonding with women's groups inside Iraq, the mother of two daughters struggles with a deep anguish. On one hand, Benjamin says the war and her efforts to stop it "have given me a deeper connection to those around the world who are loving and caring people."
Yet her fellow citizens mystify her. How, she thinks, can such a misplaced and immoral intrusion into the Iraqis' lives not bring louder voices of dissent?
"I really feel ashamed that the American people haven't risen up in larger numbers," she says. "I guess people feel it doesn't do any good."
Five years into it, she weathers on. Supporters, especially women, "keep my spirts up and keep me sane." So do her opponents.
"I love talking to people who think they hate me," she says. "I feel an affinity for anyone who gives a damn. And when it comes right down to it, we're all after the same thing."
we're all after the same thing.
Are we, Medea? Really? wow. How profound... and twisted.
YW. Should be another update later. Those guys really are out to trash 14th and L AGAIN.
bttt
Lament and Repent: Sojourners/Jim Wallis calls for lamenting and repenting the Iraq War
They're now trying to raise money for an ad campaign to run in Christianity Today, The Christian Century, and Relevant Magazine. Might be a good idea for Christians to express to these publications that they shouldn't be part and parcel to endorsing these leftists' message:
Today our nation marks five years of war in Iraq. And for five years, we as Christians have too often been silent about a war that has been financed by our taxes, fought by our brothers and sisters, and justified using the language of faith.
But we will be silent no more. So today, as the church prepares to remember Christ's suffering, death, and resurrection, we issue a Call to Repent and Lament for the sin of this war.
Our team at Sojourners is working hard to ensure that the statement is seen by as many Christians as possible - on Monday, we'll be running online ads in three Christian media outlets reaching more than 100,000 subscribers.
To call the church to repentance for war, we need to need to share our statement with as broad and diverse an audience as possible. That's why we're placing advertisements with:
Meanwhile, our blog is running a special series, "The Cost of War," that highlights unique Christian voices: an Iraqi American with family still in Baghdad, the mother of a soldier who died in Iraq, a veteran who's become a peace activist since returning home, and many more.
And our media team is reaching out to reporters covering the anniversary, letting them know just how many of us view this war as a sin.
I'm overwhelmed by the support you've shown for this campaign so far: almost 25,000 of you have signed the statement, and donated almost $20,000. But we still need your help to raise the $40,000 required for this campaign.
And as we journey together through Holy Week, let us all hold the victims of this war - American and Iraqi alike - in our prayers.
Blessings,
Jim Wallis and the rest of the team at Sojourners
All a bunch of senior hippies.
Wow - there are so many protestors!
The Freepers and cops just had an attack with rocks and paint bombs. The paint bombs were glass bottles filled with paint. Everyone is OK but splattered. The cops took the brunt of the attack. More freepers are needed!!
Saved me a trip to the zoo.
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