Terrorism Threat Level: Pink

If you were in Oceanside, CA Thursday morning and were near the pier you would have seen a sight of pink! That's right, pink; the good old ladies (and men) of Code Pink were out there to kick off their three day, 40-mile walk for ‘peace'. They planned to start walking Thursday from the Oceanside Pier, and end Saturday at the anti-war protest in Balboa Park, San Diego. For this event they brought hundreds of pink crosses and staked them into the sand on shore as a memorial for all those servicemen and women who have died in Iraq, even though I don't think they will ever really recognize their sacrifices. "Bring The Troops Home Now" was their message, and it was draped on a banner down the side of the pier. I doubt though that this event is truly for the troops, it has to be all self-serving. This mass mobilization of about 20-25 people was just another opportunity to bash Bush.

That is why San Diego Protest Warriors showed up, we didn't want their message to be heard without a rebuttal. As the marchers left for their 40-mile trip they were greeted with the few, but cheery people of Protest Warrior. What did they see? They saw the American flag being held next to two signs with the message of: Who's Side Are You On? And the other "We Support President Bush And The Troops". They didn't like this! When they all got to the top of the stairs that lead to the street I could see the lead lady's face going from a gleeful smile to a frown of disbelief that ‘they' are here. We stood tall and proud knowing that we are giving the true message that they don't like. That is why some started to head our way, they wanted to confront these fascist troublemakers. It's funny because a very old man walked up and shook my hand and then started to try and convert me to liberalism. He said in an old man's voice, "I am a veteran of world war two, and what this president is doing is wrong. He's doing what the terrorists want him to do." He then started dropping a few not nice words for my president, but I graciously returned the gesture (handshake), and smiled. At some point though I just couldn't take it anymore. "Sir, you have the right to your own opinion, but I don't appreciate you bashing my President like that," is what I told him. He continued saying his propaganda, but I kept insisting to him to stop saying these lies about my president. After a while he stopped, realizing that he wasn't going to brainwash this young man today. He walked off and I continued holding my sign high, waving to the Marines passing by. But the best part of this was when an older gentleman in his van driving by shouted out towards Scott's direction, "Why do you go you Iraq then!" I love it when they ask him that. "I already have been!" Scott yells back. The man didn't know what to say, but I could see him literally mumbling something under his breath as he drove off, that could not have been better scripted. Other drivers threw us a few bad words too, but it didn't get to us, they can call us whatever they want. Soon after that a reporter came up and interviewed Scott, and that pissed them off even more. We told her that we are here to show real support for the troops, and to express the counter message to that of down there. I was real glad that we were heard. It felt even better that as we were getting ready to leave a mother and her son came up to thank us. The reason, her son there was a Marine who just got back from Iraq. I was thinking how much that must have hurt for this young man to see this. You've just gotten home, and you want to go to the beach and there, this anti-war protest. I felt for the guy, he must have had to have lost some friends there, and these pink people are protesting what they died for. I thanked him for his service and the mother. I don't know what I would have done if I were in his shoes and saw that; I would have blown up! I just don't get it. They say they support the troops, but how is it support when you are protesting all that they are fighting and dying for? I have never seen or heard of a Marine who has said to them, "Thank you, please continue protesting so that I don't have to do my job." In fact, whenever there is a protest, and Protest Warrior is out there, we get cheers and thanks from the active duty servicemen and veterans. Some veterans don't like us, but I've never heard of any active duty Marine, Soldier, or Sailor denouncing what we are doing. So I just have to ask how are the ladies of Code Pink, and the people of the Coalition for Peace and Justice justifying their actions as supporting our troops? I am open to answers, I would like it if someone with one of these groups could please explain it to me, I would like to be enlightened. Oh wait, that's right, Pablo Padres, the deserter.

That was the big pre-anti-war protest counter protest for Protest Warrior in San Diego. Later on we met up with them again in Carlsbad, just so that they don't forget us, we changed signs but waved and said, "Welcome to Carlsbad." After that we went to Camp Pendleton for Operation Thank You, where we held signs of thanks and support for the Marines and their families entering. That was great but we didn't get the same reactions as we did in Mira Mar, luckily we will be back at Mira Mar next week.

This day was good; we had fun and showed the loony leftists that they wont protest without the counter message presented by us. If you want to join us please do, this Saturday we will be showing our American pride in Balboa Park at 6th & Laurel, and hopefully next Thursday we'll be at MCAS Mira Mar. For more information visit: www.sdpw.org.

And if you're wondering how they did on their first day, of the two dozen who started out, only 6 made it to the end of the first day's march point!