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Supporters march for troops
Bring the Guard Home, Rep. Spencer Black work to bring military home to Wisconsin
LUKAS KEAPPROTH/Herald photo
Marchers unite on Capitol Square amid gravestones representing state guardsmen who have died.
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Also by Katherine Kehoe:
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The Bring the Guard Home movement held a reception and a march from Library Mall to the State Capitol Saturday to help gain support for their cause and honor the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Riverside Church Address, which expressed his opposition to the Vietnam War.
Bring the Guard Home is a national movement whose aim is to “end the unlawful overseas deployment” of the National Guard, according to their website.
The movement was initially inspired by the actions of President George W. Bush during the War in Iraq, according to Benson Scotch, national senior counsel to the organization.
Scotch said though Congress must authorize the president to go to war, Congress has a difficult time stopping the authorization. This is because of a recent lack of involvement by the federal court system, Scotch added.
“A lot of people have believed the myth that war powers only belong at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.,” Scoth said. “We want to bring people back to thinking of war as a local issue. This is not an issue that is about getting the right president; it’s about getting the right system.”
Supporting their efforts is a newly introduced bill by Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, which would allow the governor of the state to stop the deployment of national guardsman if he or she deems the deployment unlawful.
“This bill is to help prevent against future illegal ventures in the use of National Guardsmen by the president,” Black said.
Scotch and fellow supporters said while they could not bring back the guardsmen already deployed, the bill would help prevent the deployments if the war falls outside of the parameters of authorization.
According to Scotch, starting war is easy but stopping it is hard. This bill attempts to make legislators think twice before calling for military action.
“If we reexamine how we make war and make peace, I think there will be a lot more peace and a lot less war,” Scotch said.
While the bill is still new, many have expressed their enthusiasm for it. After seeing the turnout at the events on Saturday, Ben Manski, national coordinator of Bring the Guard Home and Liberty Tree’s executive director, said he sees a great future for the bill and the Bring the Guard Home movement in Wisconsin.
“We’ve seen a lot of support for it so far, from all the major political parties, and we’re still early in the process,” Manski said. “I’ve worked on a lot of issues and this one feels like a winner.”
However, though the bill received initial support, mostly from Democrats, many people are in opposition, including Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater.
According to Nass’ spokesperson Mike Mikalsen, Nass thinks the bill is an attempt to take away the powers reserved for the national government and commander in chief in the constitution.
“While we appreciate that people are trying to participate in the process, Rep. Nass thinks that this bill would take us in the wrong direction,” Mikalsen said.
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Looks like you had 3 and one half people supporting your “march”! Ooops, I forgot to recognise all of the hard work that went into making those 25 little styrofoam “tombstones” also. The support for this was so lame that even shooting the photo from sidewalk level couldn’t make 3 and a half people look like a crowd! This is Front Page news, no doubt.
“Support Our Troops - Bring them Home.” Sure, when the War against Islamic Terrorism is Won and Done! And when we do bring them home, they can help secure the borders and stop the massive influx of illegal drugs and people into the US.
Stop the Illegals! Secure the Borders! Si se puede!
Except for ending slavery, fascism, nazism and communism — war has never solved anything.
I worked as an organizer for this rally as a member of Campus Antiwar Network…and this article misrepresents the message that we, the planners worked to forward through this event. The Gaurd Campaign was not meant to be the focus, but rather one part of the information about the wars we wanted to arm people with who attended the rally.
We want to remind people that the US military occupation in the Middle East continues as a conquest for oil and geopolitical dominance over competing world powers, despite the majority of people’s desire for it to be brought to an end, and that all of the money supporting these wars should be used to to pay for jobs and tuition for students, rather than sending them off to fight a war which does not benefit them.
The purpose of the rally was to invigorate grassroots awareness by informing people through a variety of speakers, and promote activism surrounding to war. The goal is that we need to do more than do just a symbolic vote for the presidency, an office dominated by corporate politics. We need to do things to make it politically impossible, no matter who is in office, to continue these unjust wars. While they didn’t cover everying I would have liked, the Daily Cardinal reporter did a much better job covering the rally: http://www.dailycardinal.com/article/22726
More COINTELPRO stuff from “Anonymous” … Hey, Anonymous — There were 350-400 people at this march, not 3.5 (what the heck is a half-person, anyway?) …
And as for the other “Anonymous” from CAN - yes, the writer was mistaken about the overall scope of the march and rally, but she got the facts of her particular angle correct, which is more than you can say for the Cardinal in their coverage of the Guard campaign on Friday.
But either way, the campus media should be commended for covering the renewal of anti-war sentiment here in town.
There were many more than 3 people there. This is just a stupid comment.
Maybe you should have invited the reporter to cover your socialism event while dining on $20 meals yet claiming to be a member of the working class and they would have focused on your activities instead.
the cardinal probably left because you had sooo many speakers and didn’t cover all of the event.
CAN is a joke. Enough said. But because wars have been fought for the last 200+ years, you have the right to protest, and no one should ever challenge that fundamental right. But don’t give me that bull that war is unnecessary and expect me to eat it up; I’m sure Hitler and Tojo would have enjoyed a lack of US intervention, and King George would have liked 13 colonies to exist forever.
Definitely COINTELPRO —- “Anonymous (April 6, 2009 @ 4:43pm): Maybe you should have invited the reporter to cover your socialism event while dining on $20 meals yet claiming to be a member of the working class and they would have focused on your activities instead.”
If you haven’t read much on this, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO
COINTELPRO itself is dead, but lives on in other forms these days. Read Methods - 2 …
“US military occupation in the Middle East continues as a conquest for oil and geopolitical dominance over competing world powers”
Then where’s the oil?
The “dominance” thing is soooo over, now it’s “strength thru weakness” with Barry HO.
If’s it was all about oil, we could have just paid Saddam - and probably a lot less, especially if we’d just let him keep Kuwait, and conquer Saudia Arabia too.
Bring ALL the troops home (Germany, Korea, Japan, etc) and put them on our own borders.