|
|
|
|
|
|
Recent Posts
Links to recently posted information,
listed by article title.
The Daily File Archives
Past articles from The Daily File are maintained for your viewing. Click on the month to view the archived articles.
|
MAF Presents: The Daily Blog
Here at the Move America Forward Daily Blog we chronicle the good news on the War on Terrorism you might
not have heard about on the evening news. We also shine the spotlight on those whose conduct against our
country and our military is unbecoming.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Day 3 - Bakersfield, CA where people wake up insanely early to do TV spots
November 28
Our Bakersfield Rally was at a Wal-Mart downtown. It was a really weird situation too because local TV wanted to do some interviews with Buzz Patterson and Debbie Lee (they wanted Deborah Johns as well, but she had another commitment which meant she had to leave the tour, to return at a future location) at like 4 o’clock in the morning and then on and on throughout the morning until the rally was actually set to begin at 8.
So last night, after we arrived at the hotel in Bakersfield, our driver Chris (who you will meet at some point in these blogs) took the bus to the parking lot of the Wal-Mart where the rally was set to be and left it there, hitching a ride home in the Hertz® SUV we rented (a Dodge Durango®—can you tell I like the ® symbol?) so that the bus would be present as a backdrop at 4 am when Debbie and Buzz arrived.
I on the other hand, slept in like a baby and got down to the lobby of the hotel around 7:30 where we had a some breakfast and were ferried to the Wal-Mart where the crowd was waiting.
We also had Lyman show up with his cougar. His car is so awesome, I don’t know exactly the year, I think it has to be a 70-72 but it’s painted in patriotic colors and called “the spirit of allegiance” in protest of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that the Pledge of Allegiance should not include the line ‘under God’. Lyman drove up to Bakersfield and went on to Barstow with us.
We also had plenty of Wal-Mart employees come out and sign cards and donate, and they took pictures with Lyman’s car. It was really a lot of fun. Buzz and Debbie gave their speeches, and Diana sang “Where Freedom Flies” which everyone loves. I noticed we had a couple retired vets in full uniform and they talked to Buzz quite a bit. We had several tv cameras, including a Spanish-language news station.
I was really happy with how well the T-Shirts and Books were going too, everyone wanted the and everyone was pretty generous in making donations, when they could afford to! The only problem I had was that this tour we decided to make T-shirts, sweatshirts (crew neck) and also hoodie sweaters, and each of those were in 5 different sizes. So that’s 15 different combinations of size and type, and that made it really hard to find the right one, I had to keep running back and forth to the back of the bus or to the van to pick up a t-shirt or sweater size that we didn’t have out at the table. We’ll have to figure that out later.
There was one really funny moment at this rally too, that I have to tell you all about. So we are all sitting in the bus, SUV and the van, ready to get on the road, and just as we’re about to pull out, this guy walks up to the side of the bus and strikes up a conversation with Chris our driver through the tiny little window of the drivers side of the bus. Ryan gets up to go find out who’s bothering our new friend, and this guy starts asking Ryan about where we are going and if he can get on the bus with us, it was totally weird, he might have been homeless. But somehow he also found out that we’re trying to send a delegation to Iraq, and he wanted to go there too. It was crazy…like who is this guy, he thinks he can just go to Iraq…for what, no reason…. he just wants to go to Iraq. I guess he’s bored with America? Who just does that!?! Well finally we had to let this guy know, hey, we’re kinda late and…we can’t just take people to Iraq when we don’t even know if we ourselves can go for sure yet! Eventually we successfully got back on the road and headed towards Barstow!
E-mail any questions/comments/corrections to mafbloggerdanny@gmail.com. Thank you for reading
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Day 2 - Making friends on the road, celebrating a birthday in the family
November 27
Interstate 5, heading South
We have just wrapped another day of the fight for victory tour. Our tour bus chugs along the freeway as the sun hangs low in the sky to my right. I look out at the flat desert of California that characterizes the terrain all the way through Los Angeles. We have had rallies today in Stockton and in Fresno, two cities that always give us a warm welcome.
In Stockton we visited Weber Point where we were greeted by many local supporters, including a local Stockton-based organization called “Packed With Pride” which does many of the same great things to support the troops that Move America Forward does.
The group was started by Becky Mizener and husband in 2004 following the death of their son Jesse who was killed in a mortar attack on the 542nd Maintenance Company in Baghdad which was Jesse’s unit. Jesse was killed January 7th, 2004, and 23 of his fellow soldiers were injured, but Jesse was the only one whose injuries proved fatal. Following their loss, the Mizener family decided to honor their son’s memory by doing exactly what they had done before he died, sending care packages to soldiers in Iraq. Before Jesse was killed, his Mom and Dad had often sent care packages to him and his buddies in Baghdad, but when they decided to continue sending packages after Jesse’s death, it became their mission to spread as much love as they could to troops all over, fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Today the Mizener’s operation has expanded to include office space, having outgrown the garage where the project began. They have a list of over 1,000 soldiers whom they send packages to on a regular basis which includes a very wide variety of items. And unlike Move America Forward’s care packages which are designed to feed a fire team, platoon or company, the packages put together by Packed With Pride are designed to concentrate on an individual soldier.
Having met with the PWP group we felt very encouraged that people all over the country are getting involved and doing whatever they can to help this effort.
After Stockton, Move America Forward hit Fresno. We held our rally at the same convention center as we did in the Fight For Victory tour and were greeted by many familiar faces from the last tour. Others said that they heard about the last tour but were unable to make it, and had mad it a special point to make sure and be available to come to the next tour. Some of you may remember from the September rally there, he was the gentleman whose car was all decked out with Marine Corps slogans and signage that everyone loved. He also beeped his car’s horn which as you might recall plays the Marine Corps Hymn. Fresno was also special because we chose this rally location to embarrass Diana Nagy and also celebrate her birthday!!!
As always we closed up the rally with Diana’s song “Where Freedom Flies” but this time the rest of the Move America Forward team came up and sang Happy Birthday to Diana and presented her with some flowers for her birthday. It was a touching moment, even for all our supporters who came to the rally, and Diana, well she was practically in tears. Its funny how it works on these tours. I mean this is only the second one I’ve been on now, but it doesn’t take long for someone to get a feeling of family when you spend some time with the Move America Forward team. And I say family because just like in a family, we at Move America Forward basically live together. Whether its spending a 16 hour day at the office in Sacramento trying to put together a big benefit concert in Washington (see- “A Song for Their Service”) or plan a 40-city tour of the nation, or digging up dirt on Code Pink, whatever. Then when we are on the road, we’re together constantly! And just like in a family there is stress and conflict and things will come up and cause problems, crises and each time, just like family, you put aside whatever differences you might have and work together because there is a sense that what’s most important is the mission of Move America Forward.
So tonight we wish a happy birthday to one of our most indispensable sisters here at Move America Forward, Diana Nagy. She is truly gifted and what’s more, she uses her talents to spread the message of hope and optimism to people here in America and our troops serving overseas.
E-mail any questions/comments/corrections to mafbloggerdanny@gmail.com. Thank you for reading!
Monday, November 26, 2007
Day 1 - Naughty, Defeatist Congresswoman has Nothing but Coal in her Stockings
UPDATE: VIDEO AT THE BOTTOM
While it’s absolutely true that the focus of the Honoring Heroes at the Holidays tour is to honor veterans and those currently serving, it had come to our attention that some of our stops provided unique opportunities to do some ‘creative’ work. Walnut Creek afforded us one such opportunity.
After just leaving a great rally in San Jose, where we were brought 2500 cards for the troops by residents there, the Move America Forward team booked it to Walnut Creek where we had a mission to complete. Ellen Tauscher represents California’s 10th district, professes to be a moderate Blue Dog democrat, and is active in military affairs issues and sits on the House Armed Services Committee. She voted for the war along with most other democrats but when MoveOn.org targeted her in her primary race to get a more anti-war, liberal candidate, Tauscher turned hard to the left and adopted a political stance more in line with what MoveOn wanted.
It’s no secret that MoveOn and groups like it are steering democrats into more socialist, far left territory, and MoveOn is not bashful about using it’s money and influence to strong arm Democrats so that they fall in line. Washington Congressman Brian Baird has the political cajones to stand up for what is right and true, at least when it comes to Iraq. After returning from a visit to the war-torn country, he has changed his position, now saying that our troops are winning the war, and that we must stay until the job is complete. Tauscher has been to Iraq multiple times and returned from a trip at exactly the same time Baird changed his tune on the war. But rather than see all the improvements that Baird saw in Iraq, Tauscher denied any progress, maintaining that our troops were losing the war and dying for no reason.
Knowing this, Move America Forward just had to respond. When we arrived in Walnut Creek we were greeted by dozens of enthusiastic supporters who were eager to help us send Tauscher a message. From the bowels of our tour bus we produced stockings and bags of charcoal briquettes. Our eager volunteers each took hold of a stocking, 13 of them in all, and stood in line while I filled each to the brim with wonderfully black, sooty COAL !!!
We were so excited, crowding two elevators full of people and riding to the 5th floor of the building where Tauscher’s local field office was located in Walnut Creek. We were all in the hallway waiting and ready to deliver our message when Deborah Johns bursts through the door (well, sort of…more like casually walking in like you own the place!) followed by Debbie Lee leading a throng of patriots carrying 13 stockings full to the brim with coal. The office staff there feigned polity and listened as some of the people from the community voiced their concerns and disappointment. She tried to defend Tauscher’s positions, retreating into an office and returning back with fact sheets for everyone explaining some of Tauscher’s ‘official views’ on the troops. But that was no fooling the coal-bearers! One immediately protested that while Tauscher might have voted to fund a veteran’s aid program here or there, she votes against the bills that really count for funding the war and providing the supplies our troops in Iraq need to do their jobs. Another piped up that Tauscher’s derogatory comments about General David Patreus were not included on the ‘fact’ sheet.
They wanted to know who we were, so Deborah Johns and Debbie Lee stepped forward to speak on behalf of Move America Forward. Deborah Johns reiterated what everyone else had said, and pointed out several instances of Tauscher flip flopping on the war, pandering to the extreme liberals.
That said, Tauscher’s staff had enough and their chief of staff simply opened the door. I don’t recall her actually asking us to leave, but in a dramatic procession, each coal-bearer walked out the door, as they passed by the main reception desk, they each left his or her bag full of coal on a huge mounting pile of coal-filled stockings. And then we were gone. The last few remaining supporters made their sentiments known on their way out the door. One young man asked what would have happened if we had tried to fight World War 2 with half the congress speaking out in defiance and opposition to our Commander-in-Chief and against the war effort, as they do today.
Back downstairs in front of the building, there was cheering, clapping, and high fives. I congratulated some of the people I had seen upstairs voicing their opinions so articulately. We had made a bold statement, and we’d also collected 1,500 more Christmas Cards! Bravo!
I can tell I’m getting a little longwinded here, and while I could go on and on with more details about the whole scene, I’ll let the few pictures we were able to snap speak for themselves.
-danny [maf]
VIDEO!!! Courtesy of FreeRepublic poster Syncro
a few other vids
e-mail mafbloggerdanny@gmail.com for any feedback/comments/corrections.
Day 1 - Warm reception in San Jose
November 26th
Well it has been one long heckuva day and I am sure we are all super tired, as I have been roaming these halls (of the Holiday Inn) in search of some Monster ® energy drink to help keep me chugging along. I have not seen a single MAF soul around, which means they’re all either working on preparing for tomorrow’s events or crashed out, exhausted, in their nice comfy beds.
This is a post-action report for the rally we held earlier today in San Jose. We had a great turnout in front of Celebration Community Church. We had lots of members from the community as well as some faithful supporters who had driven all the way up to our Sacramento event on the 23rd and then drove to San Jose to meet the tour there. We also had the student council from one local private school that had collected over 2500 hundred Christmas cards in their community to add to our growing pool which they handed to us in several large boxes, each one wrapped with Christmas paper.
One youngster, Chris, 11, who was there with his mom, asked me if he could help out in any way. What a nice guy he was, we gave him one of the sacks and asked if he would collect cards from all the attendees who were standing around, some with a handful, others with boxes full of Christmas cards, each envelope representing a little bit of holiday cheer to a soldier hard at work in Iraq and Afghanistan. Chris brought me back that same sack, full to the brim with cards, it was so heavy and full I was afraid it might rip because you could see the sharp edges of stacks of cards poking out and protruding through the felt material that made the bag.
These, with the 2500 we received from the students council, means we’ve collected a total of who-knows-what. We’re going to be counting all night, which is why I should wrap this post up quickly!
e-mail mafbloggerdanny@gmail.com for any feedback/comments/corrections.
Day 1 - Tears, Prayers in Santa Nella
November 26 2007
We just stepped back on the bus after our kickoff event in Santa Nella, California. As the first stop on the main part of the “Honoring Heroes at the Holidays” Tour, Santa Nella was the perfect place to begin a national pro-troop tour with a solemn, spiritual cast away. In previous tours we’ve kicked off with a big bash, but since this tour is all about honoring our heroes for their service and our veterans for their sacrifice, especially those who paid the ultimate price, it was much better to have an intimate ceremony to open up the tour.
We gathered at 9 this morning at the Veterans Memorial in the San Joaquin Memorial Cemetery just outside of Santa Nella. This is the final resting place for thousands of brave souls who gave, quite literally, everything they had to defend their homeland. Accordingly, the Cemetery also houses several memorials. Move America Forward, working with the Department of Veterans Affairs arranged to hold a wreath-laying ceremony with park officials and Move America Forward spokespersons as a signal to begin a 40-city nationwide tour in which we hope to collect 100,000 Christmas, Hanukkah, and Holiday Greeting Cards for troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We were joined by a local Minister, Milton Barry, and a US Army Honor Guard detachment. Reverend Barry opened up our ceremony with an invocation and led us all in prayer, asking for the safety and deliverance of all those who have willingly put themselves in harms way to protect the lives and freedoms of Americans back home. Rev. Barry is a veteran of the armed services himself. He was in the Army for 5 years, retiring in 1940 after being trained as a pilot dropping paratroopers into combat zones. After returning to civilian life, Milton Barry married his lifelong sweetheart and went to college and then seminary school, eventually becoming a Minister of the church and a prominent figure in the community in and around Santa Nella.
After Reverend Barry opened it up for us, Buzz Patterson led us through a short program where he, Deborah Johns and Debbie Lee, all veterans of previous Move America Forward campaigns, shared their stories and communicated how important they all felt it was for us to remember and honor our past and current veterans, and that God-willing, they would be able to return home safely.
When we were ready to lay the wreath, our Military Moms, the “Fighting Debs”, Deborah Johns and Debbie Lee raised the wreath together and gently laid it at the base of the memorial statue. It was a memorial to Airborne Infantry soldiers and was a life size bronze of a soldier in dress uniform and holding his M1 Garand rifle at attention.
I’m now sitting here on the bus, with my family, Move America Forward, on our way to San Jose for a pro-troop rally. This is what we love to do. And this time we have a bus with a professional driver to help us make our trek across 12 states on a mission to bring our troops a message. That message is that this holiday season, while you are serving your country in the scorching heat of the Iraqi sun, dumping the sand out of your boots and checking for scorpions each morning, sleeping in your tents when the desert freezes each night, hunting down al-Qaeda terrorists, rebuilding schools and waterways, restoring power to Iraqi communities, and training Iraqi volunteers into an expert police force and professional military capable of ensuring Iraq’s own national security. As you do these things each day after day, in Iraq, 12,000 miles from your homes here in America, working tirelessly without complaint, we are thinking of you. We thank you. We honor you.
|
