Saginaw 8-5-04

by Daniel McGraw

A Report on Saginaw's Protest of Bush's Visit

Found at http://neonrabbit.com/George.htm
 

    Our "President" was giving a speech to try to pick up the black vote in Saginaw today and there was only parking for people with tickets to get in so I rode my bike the 4 miles down there to "get my fair share of abuse".  I got there early in the morning and met a bunch of old ladies who were there to picket because they'd rather have social security than a bunch of wars.

    One of 'em gave me a sign to carry around with a picture of an Iraqi kid with a blood-covered face and one eye either swollen closed or gone.   A caption said  "Am I free yet?"  on it.  It was a difficult image to look at but an accurate depiction of what's happening over there without the sugar coating.  I'm trying to discourage the perpetuation of this war and you don't do that by making it seem less horrible than it is like the media's been doing.

    The crowd ended up being about 1000 people as the day went on and a reporter from channel 5 (WNEM),  Ty Milburn,  was taping a segment about it.  He kept saying there were "about 3 dozen" demonstrators.   It seemed to be on their agenda to down-play the dissent for some reason so everytime he said it I yelled a "naughty word" right next to him so they couldn't use it.

    When it finally made the news he was saying "more than five hundred".  I've actually had training in estimating crowd sizes.  If you saw the coverage, you'll notice they only panned the camera briefly in one direction.   Most of us were the other way.  For most of his brief report about "the demonstrators",  he faced us so that only the Bushies and police were in the shot.

    I later did a little research and found out that WNEM is owned by The Meredith Corporation that owns six CBS affiliates, four FOX affiliates, one NBC affiliate, and one UPN affiliate around the country.  They also publish 17 subscription magazines, more than 170 "special interest" titles and numerous custom publications.  Their mags include "Better Homes and Gardens", "Ladies' Home Journal", "Traditional Home", and oddly enough  "Penthouse" up until they sold it about five months ago.

    If the apparant attempt to downplay the fact that a lot of people would prefer a different President was some sort of mandate from the mother company,  that adds up to a whole lot of people being fed a picture of American beliefs that I wouldn't exactly call "Fair and balanced".

    Of course there may be no political bias on their part since I could find no record of the Meredith Corporation itself being actively involved in politics.   Oh sure, they've been making a lot more money since the war started.   Their web page says "For the nine months of fiscal 2003, broadcasting operating profit increased 58 percent".

    Total Company revenues were $278.2 million in 2003 but that certainly wouldn't be an incentive to promote a "war President".   After all, a Corporation with that big a chunk of the media could hardly write checks to political candidates and claim to objectively report the "news".  I do find the following interesting though:

   A group known as the "Meredith Corporation Employees Fund For Better Government" regularly donates strangely large amounts of money to Republican candidates,  local and National.  The paper trail and total amount donated gets a little tricky to follow since they also donate to groups like  "The Interfaith Alliance"  that in turn funnels money into Republican campaigns and causes.

    To be fair, WNEM did follow the coverage with a report about the cost of the event to the local taxpayers.  Anchor Sam Merrill even made a "yea right" face when he said that the Saginaw county Sheriff was going to ask the Republican party to reimburse them for the overtime costs, "We'll keep you posted on how That turns out".  I dunno,  maybe they really were just trying not to depress people with the grim reality of life under Bush.

    After Ty "Action News" Milburn finished taping,  a secret service guy walked about 100 yards out of his way to take a picture of me giving him the peace sign.   They probably ran it through some sort of facial recognition software database.   I must not look too much like anybody on their list since he never came back to get me.   One of 'em told us we had to get off the sidewalk and stand on the grass.  I asked him "You mean this grassy knoll here?".  He looked kind of annoyed but left without further hassle.

    There were some pretty intelligent people there who were really up on the facts until the event was over and 7000 Bush-heads came walking out the front door all juiced up by Georges words of wisdom.  Yesterday in Washington, Bush gave a speech about the 25 Billion dollars he grabbed that day for more "relief" in Iraq and said "Our enemies never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people and neither do we".  The boy sure has a way with words.

    These people all looked like dentists.  Upper middle class, white all the way.  The protestors were all being cool but the Brainwashed masses came out being really confrontational.   This one guy came walking out with his wife and a couple kids and called the 75 year old lady next to me a "C***" loud enough for the kids to hear.

    I complimented him on his "family values" and he started bitching at me for exposing his kids to the poster with the wounded childs picture on it.  I guess he doesn't mind kids getting killed as long as we keep it a secret.  Obviously the 6 year old in the picture was a terrorist and deserved it.

    Most of 'em looked all giddy and couldn't wait to start throwing George sound-bites at people but their expressions changed when they saw the picture.  I guess It's easier to support recreational war when it's an abstract concept, numbers and maps.

    One guy came up to me and called me a traitor and said he just came back from Iraq.  I said "welcome home" and told him I was glad he made it back.   I asked him if he had body armor over there and he said no but that's not the Presidents fault.  I said "uuuummmm, ok".   He said he was gonna vote for Bush and I told him I was still glad he made it home.  He looked kinda confused and went to go verbally abuse someone else.

    Right after that, an angry woman carrying Bush paraphernalia yelled "My husband's in Iraq" in my face.  I told her I honestly hope he comes home safe and that I was there trying to help make that happen.  She seemed really upset by the concept that he might be over there without good cause.  I really felt bad for her.

    Anyway, the thing finally died down and the only arrest was some "Anti-abortion" guy who was picketing Bush for being pro-choice and refused to stay on the other side of the barrier .  Kinda strange when you consider the fact that Bush wants to abolish abortion.   Now I can pay my bills with the money I set aside for bail.

    Oh,  by the way,  your Federal taxes paid for the whole trip,  the city of Saginaw is paying for all the extra security etc. and the money for transporting the 20 or so school busses they used as barricades will be taken from the Saginaw school system.

    Remember that Saginaw school millage that just passed?  Even in times like these, when the economy is in the toilet, people were willing to increase their own taxes so their children could have a better education.   George Bush just spent a big chunk of it to come here and tell us that things are fine thanks to him.

    Please vote with sanity.