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Weekly White House Protest
Report Saturday August 20, 2005

ycw@yellowcakewalk.net

http://www.yellowcakewalk.net
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"My sister graduated from the Naval Academy..."

The woman stared down at our anti-war placard spread out on Pennsylvania
Avenue in front of the White House.

"She got back from Iraq just a couple of months ago, but my brother is still
there. And I myself am an officer in the military. We're a military
family."

She puzzled over the multi-colored placards aranged on the sidewalk, some in
mysterious Asian scripts. She looked over at the Polish tourists taking turns
with their cameras. The Poles held a placard in Polish that expresses a very
rude sentiment against the criminals that have sent so many of this woman's
colleagues off to die.

"My sister graduated from Annapolis..."

The woman continued:

"She was so very proud to be one of the first African-American women to
graduate from the Naval Academy. She loved it."

"But now she's back at Mom's house and she's a mental wreck. PTSD. She's
quit the military, and had intended to stay in for life. She just sits at home
now."

Her voice was firm but still full of emotion.

She continued the story about her sister's involvement in a grenade attack in
which many servicemen were killed. About having to order men on missions from
which there was no return. I don't recall all the details, as tourists were
snapping up our placards for their own White House protest photos.

But I do remember one thing she said:

"The worst part about it was the goddam propaganda. They bathe you in it day
and night. Both my sister and my brother say that in Iraq, all day and all
night, on the radio, on the TV, in the newspaper, in your eyes and in your
ears every second, all you hear is a pack of lies, lies so blatant they insult
your intelligence."

And I remember her parting words:

"Keep up the good work!"

o o o

Among our 40 placards, you won't find a single one that disparages our
military. In fact, you will find only ones that support our men and women in
uniform, like the one that says:

"SUPPORT OUR TROOPS! BRING THEM HOME!"

Occasionally an American tourist will become confused at our weekly protest.
They think that somehow we protesters kill servicemen.

We remind them that under OUR plan, there would not be 1900 Americans dead and
14,000 Americans maimed in Iraq.

We remind them that there would not have been a SINGLE American casualty if
they had listened to US instead of the oil profiteers, war neo-contractors,
and foreign lobbies.

If they had listened to US instead of tuning in to ranting AM radio drug
addicts who have great talent in making simple-minded people feel as if they
were smart.

If they had listened to US instead of to draft-dodging illiterate figureheads
who swim in inherited wealth.

If they had listened to US instead of politicians who would never consider
sending their own children to catch a bullet for Haliburton, but will
gleefully send YOURS.

o o o

A couple of crew-cut young men in tee shirts spied our placards in Arabic and
Persian. After cursing us and our protest, they grabbed the placards and took
their photos with the White House in the background, brandishing the placards
in Arabic and Persian script. They called us terrorists, and offered the
placards in Arabic and Persian as proof.

Maybe these two young men thought they were holding placards that said.

"I LOVE OSAMA!"

How disappointed they will be to discover that the Arabic placard says
simply:

"LIFE WITHOUT PEACE IS NO LIFE AT ALL"

and that the Persian placard says

"LIFE WITH PEACE IS BETTER"

If they wanted a placard that expresses an angry sentiment, they should have
opted for our Italian placard:

"BUSH VAFFANCULO!"

Or our Catalan:

"BUSH TROS D'ASE!"

Or our German:

"RASIER DEINEN BUSH!"

o o o

One woman in a red-white-and-blue hat saw our placards spread out on the
sidewalk and shrieked with rage.

She waddled into the middle of the placards and kicked them every which way.

The Secret Service, of course, escorted her off the premises. The video
cameras of the Secret Service can and do count all of your nose hairs in the
area between the White House fence and Lafayette Park. And they don't put up
any such foolishness.

We arranged our placards neatly again, and tourists resumed picking and
choosing the ones that best expressed their sentiments, and clicking those
shots with the presidential residence in the background.

We know what the rules are, and we stick to them. So the Secret Service leaves
us alone.

o o o

A young blond woman asked us if we had a placard in Finnish. Of course, I
replied, and she giggled when I handed it to her. I don't know what it says,
but I think it must be something very rude about the Resident of the United
States. Her boyfriend snapped the picture. Finnish medical students from
Louisiana State University.

o o o

Someone in a mullet haircut shrieked at us:

"Damn you Harvard elites!"


o o o

A man from Cuzco offered to make us a protest artifact in either Quechua or
Aymara, language of the Incas. But he insisted he'd need not poster board but
knotted string to do it. Maybe next time.

o o o

On an August Saturday hotter than an oil refinery, newly-minted billionaires
frolic in their new yachts, their offshore bank accounts swollen with war
profits and oil profits. Your children and grandchildren will repay the money
they have stolen.

We serfs have no yachts, but we have something we value even more. What WE
take out for a spin on Saturdays is not a yacht, but Our First Amendment Right
to Free Speech. Every single Saturday since March we have been out there, and
will be there every single Saturday until the last American soldier has
returned from the Oil Quagmire.

This Saturday was so hot that only a few stalwarts made it through the day:
Danielle G, Matt R, and Eric A. But that's all it takes to keep a good protest
going when you have the support of the hundreds and thousands of tourists who
are more than happy to carry your placards for you, take the photos, and email
them back to you. Next week we have slated Cool Laura Isis, Matty M, and a
couple of other new faces. Joe H is on vacation. If it cools down a little,
Dave B and Matt C will be back. Maybe Marc S will show up.

You, reader, need no invitation to show up and take your Bill of Rights out
for some exercise. Every Saturday from about noon until dark. North side of
the pResidential Residence.

The White House should be a place of total and perpetual protest until the
criminals are driven from our government.

o o o


New protest signs added this week, penned by tourists from far corners of the
planet: Indonesian, Catalan, Somali, Haitian Creole, Thai, Byelorussian,
Ukrainian, Vietnamese

Which we add to our collection of protest signs in: Swedish, Norwegian,
Finnish, Hungarian, Romanian, Malay, French, Persian, German, Arabic,
Portuguese, Turkish, Korean, Spanish ( Mexican, Castellano, Argentine ),
Chinese, Hebrew, Nepalese, Tagalog, Polish, Russian, Italian, - and even
English.

Next Saturday: Amharic, Japanese, and whatever else comes up.

o o o

==============================
SEPTEMBER 24 MASS MOBILIZATION
==============================
NOTE: BE IN WASHINGTON DC SEPTEMBER 24
WHEN HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PROTESTORS
DESCEND UPON THE WHITE HOUSE DEMANDING
IMMEDIATE WITHDRAWAL FROM THE OIL QUAGMIRE

Google up <Washington protest september> and get on the bus and come out. Time
to kick these crooks out to the curb! Stay overnite chez Yellowcakewalk if you want!