Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Protesters Mar Veterans Day Parades


Veterans Day parades across the country were dealing with the political rather than the honor due to our veterans. A group known as veterans for peace were refused entry into the Veterans Day parade in Boston, which is run by the American Legion. They were also denied a place on the speakers dias.

To express their disdain and disrespect for the American Legion, they marched at the end of the parade with inverted flags on their backs and carrying inverted flags, chanting anti mantras. Then, they took over the speaker's platform and 'gagged' themselves to show that their speech was being restricted because they were not invited into a private event. 18 of them were arrested - and, they are proud of it.

Local groups showed up at many Veterans Day parades across the nation - they were allowed to march in some, not in others, but at all of the parades, they turned it into a political statement. In some they were joined by Code Pink and other anti-war groups.

This type of insertion of politics into an event meant to honor and the blatant disrespect for our flag is pathetic. Veterans Day was not about the anti's favorite topics - Iraq, Bush, Bush, Bush, Iraq - it was about honoring the men and women down through history who have protected us and defended us and, when necessary, fought and bled and died for us. When people behave so despicably, I applaud their exclusion. No one is entitled to take over an event organized by people they disagree with.

6 comments:

Buck said...

Two things: (1) judging from the expressions on the faces of those Legionnaires standing behind them, those idiots should be glad...VERY glad...the police were on hand to protect their inalienable right to be stupid.

(2) It's too bad the arrests, should they lead to conviction, do not include mandatory jail time. I'm thinking six months would be appropriate. Not too harsh, but long enough to leave a lasting impression. Alternatively, a good smacking around would do.

Flag Gazer said...

Reading about their 'actions' on their web site was like going to an alternate universe. They were SO proud of what they did.

But, I'm with you Buck!

Ron Simpson said...

I did a post about this too.
It never ceases to amaze me that the anti-war libs insist on innappropriate behavior to try to spread their message.

Unknown said...

Sicko's. Period, they are just sick.

Anonymous said...

There was a small saying on thousands of Soldiers Zippo's in Nam that went like this.....In which I think explains this reaction the Best...
" You haven't lived until to have almost died , Life has a flavor the protected will never know "

Flag Gazer said...

11thacr - thanks for visiting.

I'm not sure whose reaction you are refering to - in theory they are all vets. The problem with this group (like so many of the anti groups) is that actually being a vet is not a requisite for membership and many of these marchers admitted they were not.

Marching for the group in Oregon was Dennis Kucinich's wife - not a vet, not an American citizen.

Don't forget that the event they were interrupting and disrupting was an event put on by veterans.

Withour question, veterans have earned their right to speak and preserved it for me, but not of us have earned the right to disrupt someone else's event.