Posted on 04/15/2008 6:09:00 PM PDT by trooprally
Several weeks ago we had the local Mongomery County Sentinel newspaper interviewed the two opposing groups. Because the Sentinel requires a PAID subscription to view and link to its articles, I have received permission from JimRob to not link to the article so long as I don't put large portions of the article in this AAR. If you are interested in reading the full article, and paying for the privilege, the article is titled "War in Iraq protested and celebrated in Olney" by Bailey Quinonez and is in the March 27 - April 2, 2008 edition. My rebuttal Letter to the Editor is in the April 3 - April 9, 2008 edition.
As one can tell from the title, this is a typical biased MSM article. Kristinn was identified as a "pro-war supporter". FR is identified as consisting of "local Montgomery County residents".
United for Peace and Justice was identified as the main umbrella group, holding "nationwide vigils" vs our "local" group. Sandy Spring Friends, aka Quakers, were noted as having people there. In actuality, PeaceActionMC, the Montgomery County Chapter, was started by the Quakers and they started the Olney anti-troop protest. Their new web site has removed this tid bit of info.
Our faux marine was quoted in the article but he didn't give his full name. Real Marines would not be afraid to give their full names. Everyone on our side gave their full names.
And the newspaper wrote about a bunch of high school kids that were there this particular week, making it sounds as if they are regulars and they got the best of us by stayed after we left. Well truth be known, the kids just happen to come by in the last 15 minutes that the moonbats were there. They did stay longer than us, but only by minutes. The "one time there" kids were not worth out time. Now when the faux marine tried to outlast us in a six hour Freep during Week 106 , we persevered and he left a beaten down moonbat.
To the paper's credit, they did accurately quote us.
My rebuttal Letter to the Editor as editted by the paper, with input from Kristinn is BELOW.
As the co-founder of the Saturday troop support rallies in Olney, I'd like to correct some mis-characterizations in the article, "War in Iraq Protested and Celebrated in Olney" (March 27). We celebrate the service and honor the sacrifice of America's servicemen and women. We are not "pro-war" though we recognize that war is at times necessary to preserve our freedoms -- as we believe this war is.
Also, FreeRepublic.com, which our group is affiliated with, has independent chapters across the Country engaged in similar local troop support rallies. Our group is also supported by the Sandy Spring American Legion.
Our opponent across the street, United for Peace and Justice, has endorsed the insurgency in Iraq through the World Tribunal in Iraq. They are not a peace group. They have taken sides in this war against our United States of America.
The high school students are not regular supporters of our opponent. They arrived in the last fifteen minutes of UFPJ's protest and left soon after we left.
** ME ** Olney, Maryland
The roll call of our 10 Patriots included Legionnaires Glenn (USMC - WWII), Halsey (USMC - Korea), Frank (Army - Korea), Cindy_True_Supporter, Eager, FLIB, iMacMan, Olney-Keith, [Mrs] Trooprally and myself, [Mr] T.
Pics and slide show by iMacMan with other pics by [Mrs] T.
BELOW: Token pic of the four lonely moonbats with one of OUR passing supporters waving.
Our guest FReeper today was FLIB, from South Carolina.
BELOW LEFT: Flib with iMacMan and me in back ground. BELOW RIGHT: Flib with waving supporter.
BELOW LEFT: Another visitor is Lt. Mike, USMC, shown with Halsey and Frank. Mike has just finished school at Quantico and is heading to North Carolina. Lt. Mike is a friend of Eager's, who also works with his mom. Small world. BELOW RIGHT: Lt. Mike with Halsey, Frank, mom behind son, Lt. Mike.
BELOW LEFT: A family out for a walk talks with Flib. Her husband is in yellow and son is on bike behind Flib. BELOW RIGHT: And our friendly walkers.
BELOW LEFT: Lurker Bill and Frank with new all-weather sign he had made. BELOW RIGHT: Eager and Olney-Keith.
BELOW LEFT: Glenn - "iMacMan, Are you going to take my pic again? Damn, [Mrs] T got me!" BELOW RIGHT: T-Shirt given to me by Frank.
BELOW: The t-shirt is similar to this walk brick at the Marine Corps Museum, Quantico, VA.
iMacMan got some great pics today even with the sun's glare on the windows, mostly because being such a beautiful spring day, a lot of cars had their windows open.
Also, iMacMan put together a great slide show link to his waves and thumbs up.
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Dualing cameras - iMacMan and [Mrs] T being equally quick. On the trucks return trip he blew his air horn all the way thru the intersection.
REMEMBER
Next Saturday, same place, Georgia Avenue, MD Rte. 97 and MD Rte. 108 in Olney
NEW TIME - 10:15 AM to 11:45 AM
As always, the D.C. Chapter's rules for protesting will be in effect. Briefly, they are: No violence, no profanity, no racism, no provocations, obey the law and treat all law enforcement officers with respect.
But a lot of verbal engagement in Olney is always welcome.
If you live in northern VA and want a short cut to Olney See Post 39 Here. It's an easy 20 minute drive from the American Legion Bridge.
A special Thanks to a FReeper FRiend for enhancing the original plain type directions.
The Archive of Olney FReeps is here or in the LINKS section of Trooprally's ABOUT Page.
WEATHER UPDATES HERE.
[Mr] & [Mrs] T
My daughter has the DC FReep 3 year anniversary video and it is great.. but we are having problems burning it
( I think I posted this info to you somewhere else ) ...Tech guy coming over to help.So it will be one of those better late than never. Thanks for all you do!
A pox on the newspapers. They never get anything right. That’s because they all think left. Good on you for correcting them. Thank you all for being there.
Yea, the locals don't do a very good job. Another local paper showed favoritism to the anti-troop crowd and I called them on it. They decided not to run any more articles since this was “national” news and not local. This was a month before [Mrs] T and I discovered FR.
A high school student did a good job though for her school paper. And the school did a poll with the article as to which side the students would stand on, and it was a 50-50 split.
[Mr] T
We all do the best we can. I guess a Letter to the Editor is the best we can do. The papers label the two sides ‘pro’ and ‘con’ and right off the bat we sound evil.
[Mr] T
Wow, that looked like a lot of fun. Keep up the great job Freepers.
Hope you are able to make some of the more frequent FReeps popping up in CA. There seems to be a lot more activity in the last year or so, thanks to Melanie Morgan and Gathering of Eagles.
[Mr] T
Great FReep as usual everyone! We are never surprised by the antics if the media or their minions (the MSM). Our opponents, Neighbors for Peace and Justice, get the occasional dupes (always young kids) to try to outlast us. The kids get a rude awakening. We don’t surrender, and we don’t back down.
Keep up the fantastic work!
Your friends from Studio City, CA.
Good Deal. The idiot leftists aren't up for any confrontation. They cut 'n run quite easily.
[Mr] T
Good job with Kristinn’s input on your rebuttal Letter fo the Editor! Great pictures as usual by Mrs. T and iMacMan! Mr. T - that shirt Frank gave you is awesome! Keep up the great job in Olney.
Now I have to quit whining and boasting.
And Thanks for the kudos.
[Mr] T
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