« Welcome to the Talon | Main | Another anchor on the GWOT »
The Edinboro Abuses
By rurik | April 28, 2008
It is not always possible to tell immediately which news story will vanish like the morning mist and which will prove to be the minor beginning of a major event. A squad of Redcoats shooting into an unruly crowd, a black woman involved in a minor disturbance on a bus, or any of a thousands of items now forgotten though seemingly important at the time.
On Tuesday, April 22, there was an incident in Edinboro, Pennsylvania that seemed minor at the time, but whose repercussions are beginning to spread.
A small anti-war demonstration was organized by the local college. Maybe less than two dozen protesters. A small counter-demonstration from Gathering of Eagles was also there, led by the family of Jason and Carrie Swartout.
In the words of her original e-mail
The AAR for Saturday’s Iran-mobile counter in Meadville will be delayed. Our video camera has been confiscated by the Edinboro PD. We had a counter protest today in Edinboro. It was an Iraq war protest put together by Richard McVay. He was not present but there were about 10 college students, a couple professors and a group of Hillary supporters. Anyways, Andrew went to the their protest site to videotape a couple odd displays they put up. They were beginning to get aggresive with Andrew simply because he was recording their protest. Jason and I went over to make sure he was ok. Long story short one girl attacked me which turned into 2 girls attacking me. Jason pulled one off of me and then he was attacked and held down by 4-5 people getting punched in the head. Meanwhile Andrew pulled the other girl off me and then she kicked me in the head with a great big boot. I called the cops and while we were waiting on them the girl that kicked me in the head went over to Andrew(14 years old) and punched him right in the face. My 12, 9, and 7 year olds were standing across the street witnessing the whole thing. Here’s the kicker. The cops watched the video at the scene and no arrests were made. One of the cops was very aggressive toward us. The girl later spit on Jason right in front of the cop and nothing was done about it. Amazing! Right now I have a huge headache and knots coming up all over my head. Jason has scratch marks on his face not to mention someone stomping on his glasses when they fell off. Andrew has a red cheek. So we’ll get a AAR for this event and Saturday’s maybe tomorrow night after we get our camera back.
During the week this story moved from email to the blogs, including A Soldier’s Perspective, Blackfive , This Ain’t Hell, and others
Now I learn that the Swartouts will be appearing on The O’Reilly Factor on April 29.
But this is not the only such incident. On April 24 Michelle Malkin reported an incident in which an 18 year old girl, confined to a wheelchair by MS was attacked and physically abused by an anti-Bush protestor while she tried to greet Laura Bush in New York City.
Since mid-March there have been the ongoing clashes in Berkeley, California in which Eagles demonstrating in favor of the USMC’s right to recruit have been attacked by “peaceniks”. In Berkeley, the Police proved partisan in favor of the anti-military demonstrators.
And there was the bombing of a New York City recruiting station in March.
One of the members of IVAW has posted threats against Michelle Malkin and threatened to bomb the Gathering of Eagles . And around the country there seems to be a new epidemic of defacing military memorials, particularly those to Viet Nam veterans.
This on-going pattern is a partial response to those who would accuse Carrie and her family of having provoked the incident.
Another response is to remember that for at least fifty years the Left has attempted to make its protests annoying and irritating, attempting to provoke opponents to a reaction that can be used to embarrass them. Even had the Swartouts been provocative, the Leftoids should have known to remain calm and not attack. This is one of those rules which the local police should have enforced, one of those rules which keeps our current Cold Civil War from turning hot.
It is still too early to learn what will happen. Will the Edinboro police take some action? Or will this latest offense be quietly swept under the rug and forgotten till the time after the next time.
It seems to me that the radical left is becoming more malignant. They no longer have a monopoly on the public square, and must contend with opposing opinions. They do not like it and are lashing out. We Eagles, both EU and GOE, have made targets of ourselves. Good. We’re doing something right. And let’s hope the Edinboro brutality leads so some useful consequences against college hippies and the cops who love them.
-Rurik
Cross-posted to Veteran American Voices
Topics: George 'Rurik' Mellinger |
Comments are closed.