Have to agree with you Peter, the MSM sucks at NEWS these days.
Another missed Event
I spent the weekend in WDC, and arrived at the West Lawn of the Capitol shortly before 1100AM. The speakers were scheduled to begin at 200PM, while the marchers from the Washington Monument – about a one mile walk up the Mall – arrived shortly before that. Saturday was a beautiful day, clear and low 80s, but the night brought clouds and a bit of rain. Sunday morning was a very light rain, low 70s. The clouds stayed but the rain eventually stopped, well before the marchers arrived. I spoke with a lot of people and took over 200 pictures (which I am still sorting through). I found everyone with whom I spoke to be focused and informed. A few sought me ought because of the press credentials, and they were definitely more focused. One gentleman from Virginia was upset that Glenn Beck held his rally just a couple of weeks before: “I’ve been in politics for 27 years,” he said, “and I know he was fully aware he would be drawing from this crowd. People can’t afford to do both.” That sentiment was echoed several times. A TEA Party member from Georgia told me that his group has 135 people attend Glenn’s rally, but that only 65 could make this one – with lack of money and time to do both being the only factors. If you want a quick overview, USA Today has a decent article, but got this interpretation wrong: “I’m sure the press is going to focus on the numbers, but the only numbers that matter are 51, 218 and one,” said Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., referring to the majorities needed in the Senate, House and White House. What Pence said was – “There’s 51 days to the election, when the number of dems in the House will be less than 218, and 1 House member in particular from San Francisco will be out of a job.” He said it immediately following giving the numbers. Who knows how USA Today messed that one up. The stage was set at the top of the West Lawn to the Capitol. The Capitol building was its backdrop, and speakers looked down the Mall to the Washington Monument. I saw, again, a man from the BBC doing a documentary on the TEA Party. He was at FreedomWorks the day before to interview Dick Armey. I watched that interview being filmed, and was impressed with the supportive narrative. At FW, he spoke at length on camera with people making signs for the next day’s rally – letting them speak without interruption and asking questions that furthered the discussion rather than nail anyone. I spoke with him afterward. He seemed well-informed on Conservative thought and not at all in the market to do a hit piece. Let me run through some pics for you. Early on … as soon as I arrived. Rain still falling. Folks gathering under trees. The Mall is not quite visible in the background. The Capitol is behind me. 
Approximately the same time – roughly 1100AM. Backstage, the equipment is being turned on and checked. 
The folks marching the mile length from the Washington Monument to the Capitol arrive. The precession took almost an hour to pass by. Almost no one was marching silently – some groups sang patriotic songs, others were citing the Pledge of Allegiance, and some folks were yelling “USA, USA.” 
With the marchers fully arrived, the West Lawn was full, and folks were sitting outside the wall. 
The statue across the street from the West Lawn was also housing folks. 
Interior-crowd shot. The signs were incredible, and if someone was not carrying a sign then they were wearing something declarative. Maybe the guy with the coffee cup here was the only one just present (which was good enough!). 
Rep. Mike Pence being interviewed by FOX News. We spoke afterward. Nice guy, informed, and very supportive of bloggers. Told me he reads Liberty Pundits. Gotta love politicians. 
Shot from behind crowd – gaps are due to fencing by the Capitol Police, who were out in force and very professional. 
I’ll get more shots up later. Wanted to get something up quickly for you all. Overall, it was a wonderful time. Thanks to FreedomWorks for making it possible. The crowd filled perhaps a third of the West Lawn when I arrived, swelling to over half before the marchers arrived. Quote:
Hello Friends,
MSM did it again! They totally ignored over 40,000 Americans who came from all over the United States to show their opposition to the Ground Zero mega mosque and mentioned the 4,000 that supported it. How interesting, it's as if the 40,000 simply don't exist since they are in opposition to their sick progressive views.
MSM is a dying source for reliable information and news of any sort. All you can expect from them is sick commentary and frothing at the mouth like crazed maniacs and more name calling like racists and islamophobes. That's all they have to offer in their defense to any one that opposed them and as the polls are showing the majority of Americans do oppose their views.
It's simply mind boggling that the media simply ignored 40,000 Americans as if they are invisible and not there.
For those interested here's the real and true story about the historic 9/11 FDI/SIOA Ground Zero Freedom Rally.
Shalom,
Peter
There was no end. You could not see the horizon. The media pretends these tens of thousands people don't exist. It's criminal.
We will be heard. Photo: El Marco ens of thousands descended upon Ground Zero today to remember those we lost nine years ago, and to save the American principles of freedom that the sharia tramples. Crickets are chirping in taqiya media newsrooms nationwide (although they were all there). There has been no coverage. We organized a rally of remembrance that dwarfed the opposition. If the America haters had 4,000, we had ten times more. The media is playing the dueling rallies; it was no such thing. Free people came from all over the country and all over the world to stand in solidarity with the 911 families and to declare our iron determination that no victory mosque will be built on their graves. The crowd was young and old, black and white ........ politics of all stripes. The crowd was beautiful. The crowd was proud and good and decent America. All the speakers were excellent. Rousing. But the highlights included Geert Wilders, who was greeted as the great hero that he is, and spoke about how a sharia mosque at Ground Zero would be the death New York's proud tradition of Dutch tolerance. Ambassador John Bolton spoke bluntly and unequivocally via video link about the affront to American values that this mosque would constitute. Other powerful voices included Joseph Nassralla, who was the unwilling media darling of our June 6th rally, when a misunderstanding was blown out of proportion by the mainstream media as a racist incident. Joseph Nassralla was the Arab who was supposedly in a confrontation at that rally. At this rally we were proud to feature him, and he was so passionate and rousing in his love for America and fierce denunciation of the thousand-year-old Islamic oppression of the Coptic Christians in Egypt that the crowd went wild as Joseph led them in cheers of Gd Bless America! But his warning was clear. The Ground Zero mosque would be the beginning of the end, and Egypt shows where the presence of Islam leads in a free nation. Steve Malzberg and Mike Gallagher were greeted by huge cheers. It was an historic day in American history. Here is the first of El Marco's peerless coverage. More pictures and video will be going up continuously. So check back. And El Marco and Pamela Hall will have the definitive post tomorrow (hopefully). UPDATE: I will be on FOX news tonight, Geraldo at Large, tonight at 10 pm Eastern, FOX news.  UPDATE: Here are some of El Marco's pics: 
“Did New York deserve this? Did America deserve this? Did the West deserve this? What, my friends, would you say to people who argue that New York, that America, that the West had itself to blame for those horrible sounds? There are people in this city who argue this. And they are angry because we are gathered here today to commemorate, to make a stand, to draw the line. My friends, I have come from the other side of the Atlantic to share your grief for those who died here nine years ago. I have not forgotten how I felt that day.”
Other speakers included 9/11 family members, first responders, and refugees from Islamic regimes. 
There were also video addresses by former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton and media-man Andrew Breitbart. 
Pamela Geller, author and blogger at Atlas Shrugs, organized the rally together with Robert Spencer begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting, author and blogger at Jihad Watch. 
In the crowd there were families of those murdered at 9/11, military veterans, New Yorkers, and people who had travelled from around the country and from abroad to be here today. Three Marine Corps veterans listen intently to war hero Ilario Pantano, candidate for U.S. Congress. Come back soon for full reports and links to the speeches. UPDATE: Urban Infidel has great coverage here. Video and pics of the anemic counter protest. Go, see for yourself. UPDATE: A comment that shows how the tide has turned, from Bruce Godfrey: I campaigned for Obama in 2008 in DC and VA, so I am not Pamela Geller's natural audience, to say the least. And I actually supported this mosque - loudly - when I first heard about it. But the more I learned, the more I have read, the more I realized I was simply wrong. To have planned its opening for 9/11/2011, even as an initial draft, shocks the conscience. While some have characterized Abdul-Rauf as pro-American, if he blames the U.S. in part as an accessory for 9/11 and has not repudiated the comment, it's for shame. It would be nice if Islam were like the Bahai faith that it persecutes - non-proselytizing, pro-equality, pro-peace, pro-science. But it's the opposite of these things. And naming it after an Islamic conquest in Christian Europe - well in poker we call that a tell. Reading selections of ibn Warraq's Why I Am Not a Muslim was also instructive. I don't know if I agree with all of Geert Wilders' agenda - banning books and taxing burkas seems a bit silly and bizarre. But his basic point - that Islam has a predatory character and seeks conquest or at least jurisdiction over the planet, and is a hazard to Enlightenment values - would get him my vote. Even 8 weeks ago, I'd have dismissed Pamela Geller as a nut. Now I want to buy her book. If this means I don't get invited to any cocktail parties on the Upper West Side for the rest of my life, fine; beer and a shot in East Baltimore work for me.
For the record, Wilders' call to ban the qur'an has to be understood in the context of Dutch law, which does ban books. Wilders said if Mein Kamf is banned, the qur'an should be, too. It was a call for a consistent application of existing Dutch law. UPDATE: Thanks to Tom UPDATE: Ilario Pantano was fierce. The old guard is done. It is politicians with political courage who will speak for the people. And they are few. Pantano is one of them. If you don't know him, go here. If you want to contribute to his campaign (and you should), go here. If you live in North Carolina, volunteer. Do it. In the crowd there were families of those murdered on 9/11, military veterans, New Yorkers, and people who had travelled from around the country and from abroad to be here today. Above, three U.S. Marine Corps veterans listened intently to Ilario Pantano, candidate for U.S. Congress.
“… Why On 9/11 it wasn’t New York that was attacked, it was America that was attacked. It was freedom that was attacked. And we can’t forget not only what happened, not only the murderous intent that killed 3,000 Americans. We can’t forget for a moment that that they wanted to kill 50,000 Americans, or maybe 100,000 Americans. … We can’t forget that since those attacks, hundreds of thousands of men and women around the world have been killed by jihadists, in the name of radical Islam. From Egypt to Bali, from Baghdad to Kabul, no one can forget there was a car bomb here in Times Square six months ago. Folks, if you think this is over, it’s just beginning. … So what’s my opinion about a mosque at ground zero? NO MOSQUE HERE. …”
Pantano tied in Iran’s actions against Israel with the Gaza Flotilla, and pointed out Imam Rauf’s involvement with the Gaza Flotilla, and questioned where the money from the mosque is coming from. UPDATE: Eyewitness accounts pouring in, this from Betty Jean in comments section: Police lied about numbers at rally…Press too…well we expect it from them, but the police? They must have been given orders to knock down the numbers. Check the photos and ask BettyJean who was in the staging area before it started! I was there and they were chasing us away – I was moved 7 times! I was moved so far away I had to go around the block and could not get back never heard all the speakers at all they closed access. The truth is they finally refused access to thousands. I was there at 1:30 before the rally started, I was with several of the speakers in the staging area and had a few words with Pamela Geller before her detail men put me and many of the speakers out of the tent for security reasons and because the staging area was too small to hold us all. Once placed just outside the staging area the police arrived demanding we leave that area immediately. First they allowed us to step across the road and stand on the curb but another set of police forced us behind the barricades even though we explained we were with the speakers. By that time what seemed like thousands coming in from the ground zero ceremony arrived and the Police went crazy and closed down the sidewalk entirely. They kept shoving us backwards until I, along with many in my group were forced right out of the block. Not being a speaker I just went the way of the crowd but many of the speakers were scattered about. I tried to re- enter by walking up each block as far back as the eye can see but the streets were full and the crowd was thick. I kept backing out and going another block further away and trying again. The camera cannot show you around corners where I was forced to go only to be out of range of both the camera’s and earshot. I went from standing next to Pam Geller to not even being in the picture. Don’t let anyone tell you there were 1500! And shame on Geraldo and others for inviting Pamela Geller as a guest draw an audience then not allowing her to have her voice or voice ours!
UPDATE: More on the street reportage from Zhanna (hat tip Pamela Hall): Dear friends, I had experience today, I never expected to get. It takes less than an hour and half to get to the Park place and West Broadway from my door. It took almost 3 hours today. Today, on 9/11, they canceled Q train! After I got to Manhattan, I walked from the Subway station Wall Street. I was shocked. There were pro-Masque speakers on every corner and between. I could not find our meeting from the beginning and policemen sent me in wrong directions. I walked like shuttle back and forward. I passed by pro-masque meeting. That was the small, but very loud crowd. Nobody shout them down and everybody could approach them from any side. In order to get to our meeting, people had to go around and around. Everything was very strange today. BUT, I was so delighted to see our people. The very friendly people. People who care about our country, about our future, and who make difference today.
UPDATE: Photo and video report from the September 11, 2010 FDI/SIOA rally in Manhattan UPDATE: The People's Cube wants to know, Are you an islamophobe? UPDATE: A really great piece over at Modern Conservative, solid reporting: The Great Media Blackout - Props to Jennifer Booth I’m disturbed, but not surprised at the media blackout for the protest held at the proposed site for the mosque at Ground Zero. I was there, and I stood right behind the platform where the media personnel gathered. Several of them took my picture, while wearing my Infidel shirt. I even said to a few of them, “Give us a good story, please.” They answered me and said they would. They knew my meaning- please don’t skew us, don’t portray us as haters. Be honest. And with the coverage, the amount of people there, the sheer diversity of the crowd: people from England, Australia, Egypt, Iran, Uganda, etc. were in attendance or speaking, I am just dumbfounded that not only did we receive a complete blackout, but in the media reports I have been able to find, they covered a different rally, and called those people us. That’s right, you did not misread. A completely different rally filled with Christian themes and anti-abortion agendas were portrayed as the people who attended the rally which Pamela Geller organized. Just lies. Therefore, if it’s up to the attendees to document it, to be fair and give ANY kind of accuracy and decent coverage, then so be it. It certainly won’t be the first time it was left up to bloggers to be citizen journalists. Ask those who got Dan Rather fired, or ask Matt Drudge. Below is my account, which I started writing yesterday, September 11, 2010.
UPDATE: Heard this from Judy. Same experience as Zhanna. So this was a pattern ........ I came to the rally and was directed by POLICE to the pro-mosque rally instead. I was not the only one. I knew who our crowd was. I was with a group from TX, a couple from FL (who had an Allen West for congress tshirt, a couple from PA and Coretta). I also met a group of Russians. We were told that your rally should start soon and to just stay there. It was already after 3. We turned around and found you. At your rally there were plenty of pro mosque agitators. They were arguing and screaming. One had to be dragged away. it was difficult to hear the speakers. I always arrive early and like to listen to what is being said. I was dressed in my army medical corps gear as I work on a base once a month. That uniform did not garner any respect from the other side. But plenty from the great Americans at your rally NY1 claims the pro-mosque rally had 1500. Yours had 2000. Maybe they should go back to school and learn math.
UPDATE: Comment section remark on the "dueling rallies" fiction: The NY Post article claims pro-mosque protesters numbered 3000, Anti-mosque protesters 500, but in the NYPost video covering the event the reporter states that anti-mosque protesters vastly outnumbered mosque supporters. Let's call it "Dueling NY Post Mosque Reportage".
UPDATE: Much thanks to Brandy for sending these snaps in: 
Nelly, 911 mom who lost her son 
Pantano, the very definition of political courage Steve Malzberg, radio personality
The scenes from one of the cross blocks ........
 Spencer and Geller
|