So Long Ago II
The last time I took my Impeach Bush sign out a couple of weeks ago, the first person I ran into stopped her car to say she was with me all the way. She said she knew four languages and would be deployed, against her wishes, to Iraq in 2008. I told her I would be doing what I could to prevent that, and she thanked me.
As we learned this week, the Democrats will be doing nothing to prevent this intelligent and informed woman’s life from being disrupted for what I consider to be a lost cause, despite Bill Moyers recent program, “Buying The War”, which featured many media people confessing to Moyers that they should have reported things differently in the rush to war. This is the second letter I wrote to my mom while she was on a mission for the LDS church just before the war started, many years ago:
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March 9, 2003
Dear Mom:
I drove your car again today, and it seems to run fine still. I went over to say hi to Charley last week and he looks pretty good. He says he’s still not exercising, but is walking much better now and doesn’t use the walker any more. If I’m not mistaken, I think he even said he was taking some kind of dancing lessons! I didn’t tell him about my new project (you know)! Hope things are going OK in Des Moines. Has it been cold lately, or was that a passing thing.
Things are good here except for George’s looming and highly suspicious war. I don’t know if you saw his session with the reporters, but one thing I noticed is that when he first started talking, he was glancing into the camera, as if he had been told to do that to intensify the mood of importance, but as the interview progressed, and he realized that he wasn’t really answering any of the questions, but just rattling out phrases that we’ve all heard (at least) a thousand times in the last year, he became very self conscious and looked off to the side. Of course most of the assessments of the session by political pundits said nothing about what a terrible performance he gave. He even admitted during the interview that it was scripted, meaning he had been given the questions and answers beforehand. Helen Thomas, an 84 year old press corp veteran who had called George the worst president in all American history was, for the first time, not asked to give the first question. Boy I’ll bet that would have been an interesting one! I heard that some Democrats are actually considering bringing articles of impeachment to the floor of congress. PLEASE HURRY, before America loses everything to these terrible people! We HAVE to show the world we care about them before it’s too late.
Well, I hit a big land mark today. I have carried my Impeach Bush poster over 100 miles now and have been getting increasingly positive feedback from people. Of course the overwhelming majority of people don’t honk or say anything, but of the ones that do, I have always had the majority on my side. Last Sunday was unbelievable!
On the entire 10 miles of my walk, I only had two negative responses, and dozens upon dozens of enthusiastic cheers and thumbs up. I felt like a celebrity on parade. Then, of course, the next time I went out, it was about evenly split between negatives and positives for the first time, just to knock me down a notch. It was a gloomy, cloudy day. Maybe that was it.
I went out today and had another very good day. The best part was when I was at the last intersection before returning home. I stopped at the intersection with a very long light, showing my sign to seemingly uninterested lines of cars, when a large group of training bicyclists all dressed in beautifully matched uniforms came to a stop at the light and started cheering wildly. Then the light changed and I walked toward them waving and smiling like a veteran returned home from battle. Boy I wish I could have something like that happen at every intersection! What a way to wrap up my 100 mile journey
Intelligent people realize that the worlds people don’t hate us, they hate George Bush and his band of bullies. Please God, don’t let his war proceed. I wish I had gotten involved so much earlier (maybe even 20 years earlier). It turns out that many years ago, Republicans became worried when Ralph Nader was saying publicly, that not only were the big corporations ripping off the American people, but that some of them should be in jail. A conservative judge wrote an article detailing how the party could protect themselves by having a master plan that would evolve over many decades. It has worked wonderfully. One of the main players is called the Heritage Foundation and is funded by people that financed the Impeachment of Bill Clinton (false stories etc..). That and the fact that the media is owned by about 5 very wealthy people has put all of us in great jeopardy. Ironically, the wealthy people are in trouble along with the rest of us. Like I tell most people who stop to talk, the Republicans are the only people who can impeach George Bush. They got us into this mess, and I pray they will see the light before it’s too late! This war could very well turn the world against us for generations!
This project of mine has really amazed me. It doesn’t happen often enough, but I get so excited when somebody stops to talk to me. I think I told you about the guy who stopped to tell me off, and then left saying he supported my right to do what I was doing. He wasn’t the only one. People have been tricked by the media into thinking that people who carry signs are against America, but when people talk to me, they soon realize that’s the last thing I’m standing for! It’s really disgusting to hear all of the hate radio and TV guys trying to turn public opinion against the peace marchers. The Bush administration realizes that these marches are hurting him badly and they will stop at nothing. While the president is saying that he welcomes dissent (YEAH RIGHT) all of his parrots are saying things like “The protesters are Communists and traitors” The supposedly most popular News/Entertainment show (Bill O’Rielly) ACTUALLY SAID that after the war starts, PEACE PROTESTERS SHOULD BE ARRESTED AS ENEMIES OF THE STATE. You know that is what Bush’s REALLY wants! I’m counting on the police to be better Americans then that. They haven’t as much as slowed down as they go by me, but I’ll bet they have a nickname for me down at the station by now. Boy would I live to hear what it is. (Poster Boy?) I actually think they agree with me. Bush’s policies have cut funding nationwide for police departments.
The fact that I’m carrying a sign with such a blunt message disturbs me a little, but when I see the admiring eyes of a supporter, it is encouraging to say the least. To form a bond with a complete stranger in seconds this way is too easy, but obviously it is stirring feelings of hope in those who see what is happening to our democracy. I have only good days and better days. Even on mediocre days I see things I will never forget. I thought about cutting a hole in the sign and carrying a camcorder behind it, but that would be kind of creepy. I’ll leave creepy to John Ashcroft.
A couple of days ago I was walking down State Street and coming towards me was a guy riding an old bike with large baskets on both sides of the bike for carrying groceries. He had one fairly large American flag on the handlebars and two FULL SIZE flags permanently attached to each basket on the side. If this guy wasn’t a war veteran, then I am Santa Clause. I guess everybody with a flag doesn’t display it as patriotism to George Bush because as he passed, he looked directly at me, put his thumb in the air and said “I’m with you a hundred percent, man!” As he zoomed by me, I tried to strike up a conversation by saying, “you must be a veteran”, but he was on a mission and kept right on going as I thanked him.
Another day, I walked by a beautiful young couple playing with their daughter in the front yard. A modern day Norman Rockwell scene. I had a slight sense of embarrassment about my hateful sign as I walked by apparently unnoticed. As I continued up the hill with no more cars coming in my direction, I turned the sign around so the cars coming up the hill could see it. I heard a very loud “YAHOO” and turned to see the couple beaming with excitement about my sign. I yelled to them that I was having unbelievable support that day.
One night in a beautiful snow storm, I was walking down State Street when I heard a young man yell, “Hey mister”, so I turned to see him running to catch up with me. He gave me a little sash that read NO MORE WAR IN IRAQ and thanked me for my cause. I kept the sash as a momento of one of my first nights out.
One Jewish man stopped his SUV to ask why I didn’t like Bush. I told him because we were losing our status around the world. He said he did a lot of traveling overseas and said it was getting harder because of the building Anti-Americanism there and said “You’ve got more guts then I do, good luck to you!”
Of course it hasn’t all been peaches and cream. I hate to admit it but I get a real kick out of people who lash out at me. One guy in an R. C. Willey van yelled everything he could think of at me for a whole block and then again at the next block, because of the long light. “GET A JOB, GO BACK TO L. A.” I just smiled and waved and acted like I couldn’t hear. By the time he had to go, I was laughing pretty hard.
Another guy pulled over and told me he was going to “Shove my sign” you know where and then went to drive off. I yelled “Come back here and talk to me” and he stopped, looking like he was going to get out of the car for a second and the yelled, “Do you even know what impeachment means?” as if he was here to tell me how serious this thing I was advocating was. Then a light bulb went off in his head and he yelled, “Oh, you’re not talking about Bill Clinton are you?” I was left with the impression that he had answered his own question. Seems to me like sometimes we impeach presidents for almost nothing. I tried to talk to him, but it was pretty obvious that this one wasn’t going to settle down, so we parted and he swooped by on the other side of the street looking angrily back. Pretty funny to see someone so upset about this terrible president!
I went downtown on Saturday night, just to see what was there. There was a car full of teenagers who kept driving by me and yelling. They were a little drunk. I came up to an intersection and was talking to a couple who were intrigued by the sign. One of the boys in the car tried to say “George Bush is the greatest president in the world”, but got hung up on the word president. The couple and I laughed out loud. There was another car full of Republican teenagers who were not drunk but also drove by a few times saying thing in unison like: “God bless the Republicans” and “Republicans rule” I said, “I wouldn’t argue with that!” I came upon a homeless person holding a sign for food who said he liked George Bush. He said he had served in the military under him. I said, “You must mean the first George Bush”, he said “Oh, I guess it was Kennedy. I said, well whatever administration you served in, you deserve more then what you have. He agreed. I met another very poor man who said he couldn’t get social security until George took over and very emphatically supported Bush. He was extremely intoxicated. A group of kids dressed in black karate uniforms passed by and two of them said, “Yeah, George Bush is a bad guy, he is making the whole world hate us.” I said “It’s true.” Then one kid did a big karate chop motion with his arm and said, “I want to kill him” I started to say, “Well, you probably wouldn’t want to go that far”, but I didn’t.
I’ve been called a Communist, Terrorist, Tree Hugger, Ass, Wimp, Pussy, and it just makes me laugh. After this many miles, it’s obvious that NOBODY likes George Bush enough to actually fight with me, even when I chide them a little. As long as I have more supporters then detractors, I don’t feel I’m doing any harm, and I feel strongly that I am doing some good! Nothing could be worse then the world George Bush has in mind for us! If I’m wrong, may God strike me down!
Jimmy Carter comes out daily with statements against this war. SOMEBODY LISTEN to the most honest and good man to ever hold the office!
I love you Mom!
Larry.
