Conversations

In this post, I wrote about the anti-war group Veterans for Peace and their march through Long Beach. My local television station, WLOX, had a report about the march in Gulfport. To be fair to WLOX, they are very supportive of the troops. The story that aired last night was balanced. But there were some important things left out.

I had a conversation with the news director, Dave Vincent, about some of my concerns. I asked why only the back of the Veterans for Peace bus was shown. If they had done a side view, the viewers would have seen the upside down US flags hanging in the bus and the Impeachment Tour in big, bold letters.

I also asked why the Wheels of Justice bus were not shown. That one had keeping on eye on Iraq and Palestine. I asked what did Palestine have to do with Hurricane Katrina.

The reason I called was to let him know that by not showing those buses, it didn't let those who watched it know what an extreme group Veterans for Peace really is. Though a couple of those that who were interviewed appeared to be nutty. The BBC journalist who is making a documentary about the march appeared to be the most reasonable. He stated that a lot of people might not agree with Veterans for Peace but they have a right to their opinion.

I also asked the news director if they were aware that Veterans for Peace uses crosses with the names of those killed in Iraq in most of their anti-war protests. That many of the families of those killed have asked them repeatedly not to use their loved ones names in their protests. He didn't respond to that question and the conversation ended politely. I thanked him for calling me back and he thanked me for calling.

I would have liked for our Protest Warrior operation to have been done in Gulfport. However, we all work and could not make it to that one and let Veterans for Peace know we did not appreciate them. If they were really interested in helping, they could have done like so many other volunteer groups and grabbed a hammer to help us rebuild. I do not like Veterans for Peace using the destruction wrought in my state to promote their agenda. I do not like Veterans for Peace nor their twisted agenda. They are predators and seek to use anyone and anything they can to promote their agenda.

Update: Thanks to Doyle at A Cool Change, at least we didn't have to deal with the Mutha Sheehan veil of tears like New Orleans is going to face.