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| Fifth Column |
| Protesters Call On Government To Prosecute the New York Times |
| 2006-07-11 |
| At a rally outside the New York Times's office last night, protesters called on the government to "prosecute" the newspaper for its recent publication of government security secrets. Led by a radio talk show host and Caucus for America president, Rabbi Aryeh Spero, almost 100 people gathered on 43rd Street to voice their outrage at the Times's decision to publish "national security secrets relating to our government's financial monitoring programs to track down terrorists." Rabbi Spero said that publishing the secrets was an act of "treason and betrayal that put the public safety of the country in jeopardy. "It is directly in violation of Article 18 of the Espionage Act," Rabbi Spero said. "I ask the government to prosecute the Times and the people to boycott it." He added that the patriotic image of the Times had disappeared "They think that they have had graduated from America and see themselves more as Parisians or something like that," he said. Protesters stood facing the Times's office carrying signs displaying angry messages, such as "Osama's Favorite Paper." Men dressed as Osama bin Laden clutched copies of the newspaper, and held up signs declaring, "I Love the New York Times" and "It Makes Me Feel Like I'm In the Know!" Or my own "Treason!" Speeches were given from political organizations, human-rights groups, the press, and family members of victims of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The ten or so dingbat counter protesters tried to drown out Deborah Burlingame when she spoke. A spokeswoman for Action Alliance, sponsors of the event alongside the Brooklyn Young Republican Club, said that the Times had "fully informed the Jihadists and creeps over in Europe" of American security efforts. "They might as well have just sent an e-mail to bin Laden," she said. On the other side of the street, opposition came from a small group of people calling the protesters "fascists and racists." Which the good Rabbi promptly turned back in their faces and had the protesters chanting "Fascists!" at the dingbats and the Times itself. Other things chanted included "The Al Jazeera Times", "Lynch Pinch!", and "Prosecute the Times". The executive editor of the Times, Bill Keller, has defended his paper's decision to publish the information. "Our job as news organizations is to tell the people how well their elected representatives are doing in the war on terror," he said in an interview on PBS's "NewHour" on July 5. "That doesn't mean that we just tell them what they're doing wrong. It means we also try to take the measure of what they're doing that works." He added that the first amendment gave the press the right to decide to what is and is not dangerous to publish. "What gives us that right is the guys who wrote the Constitution," he said. Police officers prevented violence from escalating by creating a barrier between the two sides of the street. The barrier was breached, however, by one of the bin Laden impersonators and a heated verbal exchange between him and two of the opposition ensued. The exchange was easily separated and no arrests were made. The best the dingbats could do was scream "Answer the Question" referring to a question they had written on a sign asking "If the NY Times committed treason why haven't they been prosecuted?". Their other tactic was for some lard ass bimbo to keep blowing a whistle every time someone spoke at the microphone. There were one or two heated exchanges with passers by, but for the most part people went on about their business or stopped and lent support however briefly to the protest. There were about 200 protesters from 5pm to 7:30pm when a very large American Flag was unfolded and held aloft by about a dozen or more protesters as we sang "God Bless America". One proposal made by the Rabbi didn't make any press account I have seen yet. Specifically he demanded that the City of New York rename Times Square to Liberty Square or Giuliani Square to remove the Times' name from that New York landmark. Warning: some photos or videos of the event may show a larger crowd on the Times' side of the street than was actually supportive of the paper. Many of the protesters (you will notice many of them wearing T shirts with a NY Times masthead (revealing the June 6, 1944 date of the d-day invasion of Normandy) walked to the other side to be better able to hear the speakers. I was particularly touched by a WWII veteran who must have been about 90 years old who came down to protest with his sign "Loose Lips Sink Ships". After 7:30 I left but there were still many there trading insults across the street with the dingbats. Later that evening my wife and I were thanked for taking part in the protest and helping to try "to keep her husband safe" by the wife of one of our servicemen in Iraq. |
| Posted by:DanNY |
| #5 Good on ya, Dan. Later that evening my wife and I were thanked for taking part in the protest and helping to try "to keep her husband safe" by the wife of one of our servicemen in Iraq. I can't think of a higher honor. |
| Posted by: Matt 2006-07-11 10:55 |
| #4 A further note about the counter protesters from a comment I just posted at Indy media: There were never more than ten counter protesters. Most of the people on their side of the street were passersby who stopped to watch for a few minutes or protesters who moved to the other side to be better able to hear the speeches. Only four of the counter protesters were in any way memorable: There was Sunglass guy who seems to believe that President Bush should have an army of black or brown shirts available to knock down doors in the dead of the night and drag traitors off to prison, the law be damned... There was 'Dropkick' who didn't say anything memorable, but had a cool T shirt which must have reflected what happened to knock whatever brains he had out of his head in his youth. There was 'bumper sticker to nowhere' man who held up a stick with bumper stickers attached. Apparently I was too far to read whatever snarky quotes might have been displayed. He might have been a vendor or something... And then there was 'Androgenous Pat' who sat it's fat butt on a bicycle and blew a whistle everytime it wanted. We may finally know now where the infamous missing chads from 2000 went... |
| Posted by: DanNY 2006-07-11 10:18 |
| #3 Thank you for your report from the front, Dan, NY. Well done! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-07-11 09:55 |
| #2 Indy Media has posted an article which uses fake quotes (or at least nothing I heard and I was right behind the cound truck) to disparage the protest: Protest Warriors Incite Violence in New York One of their commenters has posted some photos as well. As in the multiple cases of the left publishing home addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, etc... of those who disagree with them, they posted a description of the vehicle and a photo of the license plate of the sound truck. More of their photos are here. Heh, one of the commenters asked: where were the counter-protesters?? The National Review was not impressed... They thought we were too rough edged for their taste. I think I saw one of these guys. He gave me a frowning patronizing look everytime he heard me yell something. Looked like he needed an enema or something. To the National Review: Get real! When someone as high profile as "Pinch" has committed treason and there appears to be no action to hold him accountable for his acts then it is time to take to the streets and demand justice. We better not turn into a caste system where the hierarchy is exempt from the rule of law. I see way too many examples of this happening, Sandy Berger, Bill Clinton, etc... to be comfortable not protesting each and every occurance. There is a time for high brow debate and then there is a time to take to the streets. So far the debate has been ineffective. It is time for the other remedy. |
| Posted by: DanNY 2006-07-11 09:50 |
| #1 Awwwright! Prosecute, persecute, boycott, bankrupt - whatever it takes. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2006-07-11 09:45 |