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AmericanProtest.net > Dude, Where's My Sign? |
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Dude, Where's My Sign?By Wayne Boettcher The blistering rays of the sun sizzled through the atmosphere, blazing their way past fall skies to strike Tucson with heated enthusiasm. Yes, it was another scorching day in the desert on Wednesday, October 26th as I neared the Military Recruiting Center at Speedway Blvd about 7:10 am. This time I was early as the other side had changed their time to 9:00 am. I was the first one there! Placing my homemade UN flag as a welcome mat, I held up my new computer printed sign: We Support The Troops and Their Mission. FreeRepublic.com. Soon the ad hoc pro American leader of the weekly protest appeared with more signs, flags, portable patriotic music backpack and much enthusiasm. This military mom was not going to let any moonbats demoralize the troops with impunity today! We shouted "Hurry for the USA!" and "V for Victory" as passing cars honked in agreement. More patriots began to show up, including a grizzled newcomer veteran on a fearsome motorcycle. But even before that, Michael Lucero (father of slain hero Josh Lucero) and his large family were among the first to arrive. Lucero's leadership and determination combined with Christian good will has been an example to all at the Wednesday protest. Marine Lance Corporal Joshua Lucero was killed on Nov. 27, 2004 in the al-Anbar province of Iraq when his patrol was ambushed. Pushing his two buddies into a doorway, Lucero took a deadly fusillade of grenade fragments and gunfire upon himself, saving the others. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends," quoted Mr. Lucero from John 15:13 as he related this account as told to him by one of the saved men. The sneaky ambusher soon lost his own life as he tried to make off with Lucero's weapon, apparently not knowing Josh's friends were still alive in the entryway. There's not much we can say about a man like Lance Corporal Lucero whose life and actions spoke more than words because any speech seems inadequate. We can only ponder how American heros are denigrated with protest signs and wacky conspiracy theories as we take new encouragement to stand up for the troops and America. Constantly lied about by liberal media and others with nefarious agendas, our brave men and women continue to uphold the finest traditions of the American military. A fellow we didn't know came by requesting a sign to hold. When asked if he supported the troops and their mission, however, he irately declared he was anti-war and stalked off. I remarked how we should have given him a sign and seen how long it would take him to realize he was on the other side to much laughter. A fun joke but of course we pro Americans would never really resort to such trickery. Honesty and facts are what we're all about! Another newcomer had emailed me previously about coming. Though of the stalwart Protest Warriors, Jeff had not yet been to the Wednesday protest. As he took up position with a homemade sign requesting that terrorists be protested against instead of America, a large and aggressive peace advocator began taunting him in a rather threatening manner. Hurling curses and insults, the "anti-war" chap escalated the argument rapidly. "You want to take it out back?!" he roared as Jeff reacted normally by turning around and facing the threat. "All right, knock it off, you guys," I implored, stepping between them while inwardly praying they wouldn't start flailing away at each other. "What do you think about this picture?" I asked the raging pacifist, holding up the printout of the famous photo of Saddam Hussein's palace mural depicting him smiling at the burning towers of 9/11 and declaring him a jihad espousing combat leader. After a few more curses and jeers he realized I really wanted to know and told me he thought it was a fake. He didn't want any articles on weapons of mass destruction or terrorist connections in Iraq. Later Jeff told me they made up and shook hands. A great beginning for Jeff! A horde of moonbats soon descended upon the area. Both sides had a large contingent, about thirty people apiece. Many "anti-war" protesters had hastily handwritten homemade placards proudly noting that two thousand had been killed. I found out later that morning they were counting both combat wounded and normal accidents like vehicle crashes. No worries about honesty and facts there! I asked a passing lady wearing such a sign as a sandwich board what she thought of the picture. She thought it was a fake and wondered why I would protest Communism. (I had switched signs to "Say No To Communism" as another troop defender was using my previous one.) I didn't have my printouts with me right then but I explained that it was a matter of mathematics. Here were many people "protesting war," yet even if they weren't Communists (and some proudly are) they at least supported or didn't see anything wrong with that philosophy. Yet Communism killed millions of civilians in the last hundred years, more than all the wars put together in the 20th Century. And while most of the war casualties were soldiers who wanted take the side of their nation, the civilians killed by Communist governments were just trying to exist. She replied that she didn't care about the mathematics so I pointed to her sign declaring two thousand dead. "But you use mathematics of the dead to make your point. It seems like you do care about it. I think that's very hypocritical of you to say you don't while wearing that sign." She seemed flummoxed and tried to say that many Iraq civilians were killed. "Not very many and not on purpose like the Communists," I declared. "Our policy forbids...." "Our policy is *#)$@(!$^*!!!" she interrupted and took off down the sidewalk. Seemed like a questionable debate technique to me, but later she took printouts of the R.J. Rummel column "The killing machine that is Marxism" and James Robbins' column on WMDs. We had a short talk about how both sides at a protest can get along and discuss their different views. The anti-math protester commented as she left how she wished nations could do that instead of killing all the time. "Tell that to them," I requested, holding up the picture of the burning towers with Saddam smiling while pointing to it. "Tell it to them." She nodded as she walked off, not as if to concede my point but to acknowledge that she understood what I was saying. More things that are fun happened; Jeff came up while I was talking to an admitted Communist and asked why liberals are always flipping off our side while we don't do that. I interrupted the Communist's sarcastic reply to sadly admit that there is a case where the "anti-war" protesters are flipped off, because wounded soldiers on the Friday night bus into Walter Reed hospital have the vehicle stop by the protesters and switch on the interior light to do so. "It's regrettable," I lamented, "but in the interests of truth we must admit that both sides get flipped off." Jeff agreed with me that as part of our own personal Christian faith we two at least would never flip off anyone as the Communist snorted derisively. I must say however that for a Communist he wasn't as rude as many liberals although he cursed a lot. Speaking of many liberals, there were apparently quite a few asking each other the previous week about signs from two weeks ago; they unable to find them. One lady from our side told how two weeks ago she noticed that someone had pulled up in a truck and went into the strip mall. Then moonbats were piling signs in that truck. But later the person came back and drove off without speaking to them. Hmmmmmmm. Mr. Lucero spotted my "anti-sun" friend from two weeks ago with a sign depicting many tiny photographs of military troops that had been killed. Holding in his rage, he firmly demanded that his son's picture be removed. The chastened liberal complied although his friend berated him for it. But then he continued to hold up the sign without thinking about how many other parents and relatives would not want him to do that. I heard there is a bill being formed or maybe already in Congress to prevent such indecent behavior which I will research and reveal the facts of in another column. Let's be ready to support that bill and our troops in every way, shape and form as we stand up for our military in America! Wayne Boettcher is the owner of AmericanProtest.net
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