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Anti-War Float in July 4th Parade	Current rating: 0
by Ricky Baldwin Email: baldwinricky (nospam) yahoo.com (verified) Phone: 217-328-3037	01 Jul 2005
Last year the Anti-War Anti-Racism Effort (AWARE) took home a third prize trophy from the local July 4th parade. This is the fourth year in a row the group is participating, and this is an open invitation to join in.
WHO could pass up an opportunity like this? It only comes around once a year. Yes, now, unbelievable as it may sound, you, too, can spend a hot sweaty day trudging along the pavement behind a radical anti-war float in a small Mid-Western community on the Fourth of July! The patriots will all be out, waving their flags and perspiring, munching deep-fried chips and perspiring, swilling a beer or two or three and perspiring, feeling proud of their country and perspiring, arming their kids with supersoakers and perspiring -- -- and around the bend we’ll come -- They may SEE us first: twelve-foot oil well gouging the cloudless blue horizon over the heads of high school bands, the flags and banners and the ladder trucks. They may HEAR us first: the din of pennies in tin cups rattling up and down the parade route in and through the sounds of brass instruments and sirens and drums. Or they may just SENSE our presence, as a wave of mood-change washes through the crowds in our wake, and maybe leads us slightly, and spreads out alongside our giant painted letters billowing in the breeze -- “Billions for War = Pennies for Our Communities”. But they’ll definitely marvel at Halliburton CEO Daddy Warbucks raising a cold glass of bubbly with General Nuisance of the Joint Chiefs in the (sparse) shadow of a precious oil well, beside the Pentagon and a map of Iraq scrawled with play-by-plays. They’ll stare slack-jawed at our Billionaires for Bush partying with the CEO and the general amid monster bags of cash weighing down our hay wagon float. Their eyes will squint and then pop with amazement as a troupe of beggars struggles forlornly along behind the wagon, rattling the tin cups with pennies and carrying signs that read, “Where’s the money for health care?” “Where’s the money for our schools?” “Where’s the money for veterans’ benefits?” (this last one in uniform) --and the like. Behind all this will follow a ragtag cloud of hippies with signs proclaiming various grievances against the war machinery, smiling, waving and flashing two-fingered peace signs. And in case they still don’t get it, a couple of bearded weirdoes will strafe the bystanders on either side with printed salvos on the cost of war, the lies of government and the resources where anyone can learn more. So-- how can YOU join in, you inquire eagerly? Easy. I Show up and bring somebody: Oregon and Busey between 12:30 and 1 pm on Mon. July 4. We’re no. 44. Feel freeto bring a sign or borrow one of ours. Don't miss it.
See also: http://www.anti-war.net
This work is in the public domain.

Comments

Re: Anti-War Float in July 4th Parade
by karl roenfanz ( rosey ) k_rosey48 (nospam) hotmail.com (unverified)	Current rating: 0 03 Jul 2005
haliburton and kbr have ripped off the u.s. of billions usd.but our boys in iraq are exposed to radioactive dust ( DU arty rounds ) but have only two years to file for bennifits. (but their grandkids will have the disfigurements). but bush's corporations will be making billions off inflated prices.

Protest posters
by AmigaPhil (No verified email address)	Current rating: 0 03 Jul 2005
Need protest posters ? Find some here: Bush, War, Crimes : Images, Messages. Some more reasons to protest the war: ''IRAQ IS NOW WORSE THAN IT WAS UNDER SADDAM,'' Iraqi Witness at the World Tribunal on Iraq Istanbul, 26th June 2005 - Witnesses of the ongoing atrocities in Iraq testified before the Jury of Conscience at the World Tribunal on Iraq on the second day of the Tribunal. Their exposure of the impact of this war on Iraqis revealed a country that is facing worse conditions than under Saddam Hussein. In the words of Amal awadi, an Iraqi lawyer working for the defenceless in Iraq, ' Atrocities existed under Saddam Hussein but, unfortunately, things are now much worse.' Further testimonies to the human rights violations occuring in Iraq on a daily basis were also given by writer and journalist Hana Ibrahim, Eman Khammas who is a human rights activist based in Baghdad and journalist Fadhil Al Bedrani who witnessed the last assault on Fallujah. They spoke about the illegal detention of citizens, tens of thousands of Iraqi people who are missing, the ongoing torture in prisons, the kidnapping and raping of women and the constant fear that now forms part of the daily life of Iraqi people. 'Snipers hunt people in the streets. People attempting to go to health centers are shot at. There are many crippled children. There are thousands of widows and orphans. There are no police for security and there are no courts. Even hospitals are occupied and bombed and burned. In Falluja and other places American troops intentionally burnt down the hospitals,' said Eman Khammas. Tim Goodrich who was deployed to Saudi Arabia with U.S. troops until he joined the ranks of anti war protesters gave the Tribunal detailed insight into how the U.S. military functions: 'To summarize, despite the war being illegal under international law and being based on lies, there are many other factors which contribute to military misconduct in Iraq. Among these are poor intelligence, lack of training, the stress of fighting in a guerilla war, and finally, the lack of a mission and clearly defined goals after the fall of Baghdad. Coupled with the fact that military culture already has many problems with racism, ignorance, stereotypes, and dehumanization, this clearly shows that the best solution is an immediate withdrawal of American troops from Iraqi soil.' See also: - Iraqis Endure Worse Conditions Than Under Saddam, UN Survey Finds (LA IMC) - Censoring the carnage in Iraq (NYC IMC) - World Tribunal on Iraq: Preliminary Declaration of the Jury of Conscience (DC IMC) - World Tribunal on Iraq coverage (Global IMC) - Dahr Jamail: Wake up Calls (+ WTI related links) - Action: The Summer of Truth Bush, War, Crimes : Images, Messages

When the Fourth was not a time for political viewpoints

by Mink!
mink (nospam) tcp.com (unverified)

Current rating: 0
03 Jul 2005

35 years ago this weekend, Champaign-Urbana was getting ready to celebrate Independence Day in style. Saturday, the Fourth of July, would be marked by the 21st annual Freedom Celebration Parade, as well as a fireworks display at Memorial Stadium attended by 35,000 area residents.

The day would also be marked with fistfights in the streets and police intervention.

The theme of the 1970 parade, sponsored as usual by the "Fourth of July Freedom Celebration, Inc.," was "America - the possible dream." 74 units were scheduled to be in the parade - the traditional "Spirit of '76" group (thanks to a piccolo player being found at the last hour), nine units from Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, and 65 other units, including 21 floats.

Two applications, however, were rejected.

Mrs. Jocelyn Werry and Pam Schmidt, both of Urbana, received letters from Dale Thuney, committee chairman of the Freedom Celebration, informing them that their units had been rejected because, in the 20-year history of the parade, "We have not permitted it to be the vehicle for espousing a particular political view or personality... The celebration was founded to sponsor, promote and direct a community-wide observance and celebration of the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, in a manner that will emphasize the basic ideals and principles upon which the United States was founded." According to Thuney, none of the entries in the parade would be expressing "any individual's or organization's viewpoint on specific issues."

The "issues" in question were clear. Werry and Schmidt, independently of each other, had submitted applications on behalf of "Patriots for Peace" and "Concerned Youth," respectively. "Patriots for Peace" was made up of members of the "Women's International League for Peace and Freedom." They planned to have a small group of marchers accompany a float. Concerned Youth was formed of local high school and college-age people, and planned to integrate a small anti-war and peace march into the parade, as a way to show youth that they might have a voice, in an orderly fashion, in the public discourse.

In response to her rejection, Mrs. Werry said, "It's really sad. People who say this type of thing really don't know what they're celebrating on July 4th. The Declaration of Independence was not conservative. If we squash that, we will squash what this country is all about."

Miss Schmidt, meanwhile, remarked that "this is pretty ridiculous when you think about the bombers and missiles there, and the Air Force people. That's a demonstration of American power. It's a pro-war thing, really."

Following the article in which their responses ran, the Courier printed a list of the draft lottery results for 1971 - first to be called would be men born July 9th, 1951.

Come the afternoon of July 4th, the parade started as planned at the corner of Green and Coler in Urbana, at 1:05 PM. "Patriots for Peace" and "Concerned Youth," while forbidden to march as part of the official Freedom Celebration, had obtained permits to march in front of or behind the parade, or stand on the curbs. The groups met "under the nose of an Air Force Bomarc missile," at the parade staging grounds, where they were informed that they would be under city, and not Freedom Celebration, authority. He did however add that from 1PM on, the parade was his, and he "would not tolerate any interference."

The parade was to follow its usual route - from Green and Coler, west on Green, south on First, the right on Peabody to the end, with performances including Chief Illiniwek to follow. The peace marchers chose to have their own parade in advance of the main Freedom Celebration parade. It was made clear that the real parade only started with the "Spirit of '76" musical troupe following.

Thus the peace marchers started out along the route to an audience of 15,000 people. They carried signs with slogans such as "Isn't peace appropriate for July 4?" and "End the war and military oppression." Many of them had brought their children along for the march.

Near Lincoln Avenue the peace contingent was attacked by a group of "well built, muscular individuals," according to Champaign mayor Virgil Wikoff, who felt they were attempting to break up the peace marchers. The attackers left with several headbands and signs that they had stolen from the marchers. Some observers cheered the marchers while others jeered. The march continued.

However, at Fourth and Green, the peace marchers were routed north on Fourth, away from the parade, by a mixture of state and Champaign police. The crowd cheered. Some of the marchers, however, merely melted into the crowds lining Green and continued to proceed west, followed by some angry townspeople.

When this group of peace marchers reached Third Street, some of the angry observers that had been following the peace marchers challenged them to a fistfight. Without waiting for the peace contingent to answer, the hacklers waded in with fists flying as the peace marchers proclaimed their right to march separately from the parade.

The protesters stopped at Fourth, meanwhile, asked the police why they had been shunted off, only to be told by Champaign police Sergeant Bates that they had no permit, which was in fact incorrect. The police did, however, protect the peace marchers from the surrounding maddened crowd, for which they were appreciated.

The peace marchers were finally stopped at First, again by police, where again they were told that they had no parade permit and no time to get one. Many children in the peace march, brought by their parents, were wondering at the policemen's riot gear.

The peace marchers did, however, have a permit to parade in the street - what they did NOT have was a permit to officially join the Freedom Celebration parade. Because it got confusing as the route went on, the police had put squad cars between the peace march and the official parade. The rules had said, after all, that they can't have political messages in the Champaign County Freedom Celebration Parade.

(Happily, this rule has been changed, particularly given that in future years it was made clear that there will be only ONE Fourth of July parade.)

Meanwhile, a favorite float in the parade (featuring girls in bikinis) was sponsored by the Champaign County Young Republicans, the missiles were shown, and quite a few local Democrats managed to ride in the parade in cars with their names and offices emblazoned on the side. By far the largest contingent in the parade was from Chanute Air Force Base, including 600 marching airmen and an actual F-104 jet.

Questioned about the matter, chairman Thuney said, "I regret that we had problems, but I think the people of this community realize now why I denied certain groups the right to march in the parade."

Mrs. Werry's answer to that? "I wonder if it will occur to him that the trouble was caused, not by the peace marchers, but by the townspeople?"

(the above largely paraphrased from the Courier of late June/early July, 1970)

Re: Anti-War Float in July 4th Parade
by Cannon Cocker (No verified email address)	Current rating: 0 06 Jul 2005
Karl, There is no such thing as a depleted uranium(DU) arty round. I am a former arty gunner in the Marine Corps, I think you may have your ammo mixed up.

You're In the Army Now, Marine
by Dose of Reality (No verified email address)	Current rating: 0 06 Jul 2005
Perhaps Karl is being less specific than a professional might be in his use of terminology. However, there's plenty of DU dust from a variety of weapons present on any US battelfiled, so much so that your point of specificity about how to define "arty" is like pissing into the wind in terms of the exposures that US forces and those who have to live on their past battlefields in the future will suffer from this toxic brew of DU. BTW, the Army does use "small amounts" of DU in the rounds of at least one artillery system, just for the record. You can read it yourself in the following rundown of weapon systems, provided by the DoD itself at: http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/du_ii/du_ii_tabe.htm 3. Current Uses of DU DU is currently used in kinetic cartridges for the Army's 25mm BUSHMASTER cannon (M2/3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle), the 105mm cannon (M1 and M60 series tanks) and the 120mm cannon (M1A1 and M1A2 Abrams Tank). The M1A1 (HA), the Heavy Armor variant of the M1A1, also employs layered DU for increased armor protection. The Marines use DU tank rounds in their own M1-series tanks and a 25mm DU round in the GAU-12 Gatling gun on Marine AV-8 Harriers. The Army uses small amounts of DU as an epoxy catalyst for two anti-personnel mines: the M86 Pursuit Deterrent Munition and the Area Denial Artillery Munition.[210] The Air Force uses a 30mm DU round in the GAU-8 Gatling gun on the A-10. On a very limited basis, the F-16 can be modified to an A-16 ("A" signifying "Attack") with the addition of the GPU30 gun pod for close air support. The A-16's GPU30 gun pod is capable of firing 30mm DU rounds. Flown only by the New York Air National Guard's 174th Tactical Fighter Wing, the A-16s flew only one Gulf War mission (on February 26, 1991), firing approximately 1,000 30mm DU rounds.[211] The 20mm DU round developed by the Navy for use in its shipboard PHALANX Close In Weapons System (CIWS) remains in service; however, since Fiscal Year 1990, the Navy has procured only tungsten rounds for the CIWS. The 20mm DU rounds remaining in the inventory will be used until the supply is exhausted.[212] In addition, the Army has tested limited quantities of small caliber DU ammunition (5.56mm, 7.62mm and 50 caliber).[213] However, the Army produced these rounds in limited quantities for developmental testing only and evaluation and never type-classified them for standard use. Some veterans claim to have fired 50-caliber DU sniper rounds during the Gulf War, but this claim could not be supported after numerous interviews with the manufacturer of the 50 caliber sniper rifle, with ammunition suppliers, and with the DoD logisticians responsible for small caliber ammunition.[214] The 50-caliber sniper rifle did fire an API (armor piercing incendiary) round, but the round did not contain DU. There have been similar claims that cruise missiles fired during the Gulf War contained DU. DU is used to simulate the weight of a nuclear warhead in the developmental testing and evaluation of the nuclear version of certain cruise missiles, but no cruise missiles fired during the Gulf War contained DU.[215,216] (Note: You can access the footnotes at the provided link above by clicking on the links imbedded in it.)