PRO-AMERICA/PRO-ISRAEL COUNTER PROTEST 6/10/2007 Here are some images I took from the counterprotest on 6/10. There weren't many people there, but then again they only started organizing two weeks before the event and it wasn't ... unlike the pro-Fascist rally [see post below this one] ... coupled with an official Convention. Highly impromptu. Most of the images speak for themselves so I'll leave them at that. If anyone asks why the US supports Israel ... it's probably because Israel supports the US. Duh. I should probably mention that June 10 was also DC's "Gay Pride" Day and that there was a huge event on the Capitol Mall to celebrate. It had far [far] better attendance than either one of these rallies. There was, however, some natural movement among the groups, although I didn't see a lot of gay couples in amongst the head-choppers on the Capitol Lawn. Here's and example of a gay supporter of Israel. "LGBT" means "Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Trans-gender" ... just in case you didn't know. I didn't. I had to ask. Is should also probably point out that the catalyst that brought on this counter-protest was an ad campaign instituted by the head-chopping Fascists wherein they purchased ad space announcing their "event" in the DC Metro. Very slick. Once the pro-Israeli/pro-Human forces got wind of it they bought their own ad space and a counter-ad-insurgency was begun. What you see at left is an example of that ad campaign. There's another one [about the same size and style] some photos below this.

Pro-Terrorist Rally on US Capitol Lawn: June 10, 2007

Lamest Protest Rally ... Ever. There's a line from Woody Allen's "Annie Hall" where Woody and Annie are sharing their first glass of wine together on a rooftop in New York City, and Annie complains that she meets a lot of ... "jerks". Well, I meet a lot of jerks at these rallies ... true, some require more critical observation, some less ... This guy .... I think it was the keys. And the pathos. I mean really ... three signs? Or maybe it was the hair. Oh well ... This guy, then again, came a close second. I'm not really sure why. I do know it was close, though. *** The rally was marketed as:

The World Says No to Israeli Occupation March and Rally Sunday, June 10th 2007 2pm People around the world are joining together in a global day of action as “The World Says No to Israeli Occupation” to protest the 40th anniversary of Israel’s illegal military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, and Syrian Golan Heights. In the United States, thousands of people from all over the country will converge on Washington, DC, from June 10-11, 2007, to send a clear message: The United States Says No to Israeli Occupation!

Those "thousands" ended up being about a thousand. Tops. That's "a" thousand, as in "uh" thousand. And that's counting the speakers. And I'm pretty sure that most of them were locals. Which means that the only people happy about this tonight is the ANSWER crowd. Finally someone has put on a protest more lame than their own. That must be a relief. I would think.

There were, as usual, packs of pathetic leftovers from the 60's.

How anyone who actually lived through the Carter presidency can look at a picture of that man without either revulsion or lapsing into a giggle fit I have no idea.

Luckily for me I missed most of the fiasco by living in another country.

I did, however, manage to get the tail end, viz: the Iranian Hostage Crisis. Now there was a well managed international crisis. Yep, Carter put us in solid with the Iranians.

That peanut growing, rabbit fearing anti-Semite was the nail in the coffin of my own naive leftism. He was leftism's reducto ad absurdum at its best. He still is. Perhaps more so.

I suppose I owe him for that.

One of the benefits of attending these rallies is one get's the truth raw.

I mean, none of this namby-pamby "two-state" crap.

Let's just drive those pesky Jews right into the Mediterranean. That'll fix everything.

The Capitol Building really is beautiful, isn't it? Hard to remember sometimes that Lincoln walked these grounds, along with most of the great men and women in our history.

At many points during the Civil War Union cavalry messengers would gallop across this very lawn with news from the front. The disaster of Chancellorsville ... the triumph of Appomattox. People crowded here on hearing the news from Pearl Harbor. VE Day, VJ Day were celebrated by thousands of cheering Americans, some weeping with joy. One can almost see them sometimes. That truth just adds to the pathetic tragedy that is today's left. Sometimes it just makes me want to weep.

Then I catch a glimpse of something that encapsulates so well everything they stand for ... a mascot ... an avatar of the irony and the comedy that is the warp and weft of today's left along with their pathetic, attention seeking neurosis. And I just have to laugh. Ah ... that's better.

More to come ... I hope.

**** UPDATE 06/11 8:45 pm ET ****

OK, the media and the organizers of this dead-end rally have obviously tried to pull their embarrassed butts out of the fire by claiming 5000 attendees. Now, while 5000 is still pitifully small, I want to enter into the record in the interest of full disclosure a group of photos I took at the height of the rally ~ 4:00 pm. I have put them together into a panorama. Please click on the image to get a larger, more detailed look. I have another 14 meg version on my computer here at 8500 pixels/2500 pixels if the media or anyone else wants an even better look. That ain't 5000. It may not even be 1000. Don't push it. **** UPDATE 6/12 8:15 am **** Just a few more photos for those who are in denial that this event was essentially leftist: Brian Becker ... National Coordinator for the ANSWER Coalition. The "Man With No Tan" He's holding the sign. The keffiyeh/Che convergence. This is the ANSWER table. The fellow to the left (!) is actually a decent enough bloke ... I've seen him at a number of these rallies and have spoken with him. Sad. He's the bloke in this video I took last year in front of the Israeli Embassy .... Medea Benjamin (to the left, appropriately), one of the founders of Code Pink and professional harpy to various and sundry legislative assistants ... along with some of her quilting bee.

PROTEST/COUNTER-PROTEST on the Capitol Mall. ... This is getting to be a habit. Potty-mouth lefties vs. the occasional Lizaroid. What more could you want? Well ... you'd want more I'd be bound. However, Julia and I are going to a special fundraiser tonight and I won't be able to process this stuff as quickly as I would like, so I'll just leave you with these for now. Two rallies ... one Capitol. Two worlds. Here is a photo [left] from the pro-Israel rally just up the street. I'll be posting more on that later. Nicer folk. Plus the observation that, no matter what the media may be saying about the pro-terrorist rally on the Capitol South Lawn today ... and I hasten to admit that I haven't heard anything ... the attendance was ~ 1000 tops. And I have the photos to prove it. As you will no doubt see later. Plus, of course, some video.

OK ... I know I've been a bit quiet for a while. Real life intervenes. However ... Mark your calendars. This, for starters, may be too good to miss: Teach-In at the 2007 Annual National Convention of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee WHERE: Omni Shoreham Hotel, Capitol Room, 2500 Calvert Street NW, Washington, DC 20008 WHEN: 10:15-11:45 AM Facilitator: Nadia Hijab, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies Ambassador Afif Safieh, Head of PLO Mission to the United States Sara Roy, Middle East Center, Harvard University Robert Malley, International Crisis Group, Former Special Assistant to President Clinton for Arab-Israeli Affairs, 1998-2001 Or, to paraphrase my dear dear friend Antoine: "Yum ... yum ... "