Allow me to introduce you to...

...one of my new heroes. If only we had more people like him in this world.

Don't let the liberal Hollywood elitists win another one

If you care anything about freedom of expression, artistic freedom, the right of others to make really really really bad movies then please click here and sign this petition.

Go on, sign it and help stop the elitist bastards from winning. And as an added bonus you'll help keep the hope that there'll be a Bloodrayne 4 alive.
Uwe and I thank you.

Takin' it to the streets

After psyching our selves up by listening to our favorite pre-protest music, which for us these days is the song Not Ready to Make Nice by the Dixie Chicks, we arrived at the preapproved site for yesterday's Iraq war protest. It was a sunny day with temps in the low 60's but since the wind was blowing it felt more like the high 50's when the wind gusted. Somehow we put up with the cruel indignities the weather tossed at us.

We got our signs and we met up with Snad and John, the stalwarts behind Concerned TN Citizens. We chatted for a moment and then we took our places on the corner and we began brandishing our signs and waving to the people who drove past us in their cars. In very short order others joined us on the corner and the protest began in earnest. We may be mad as hell over this insane war but we're not stupid, so that means we basically want to let others know that not everyone in this conservative are of east TN/southwest VA/western NC supports our Idiot in Chief and his petulant little unconstitutional war so we protest by holding our signs and showing our support for sanity and peace. We shy away from being confrontational and from shouting inflammatory slogans.

The response we got yesterday was generally very positive, which frankly in this conservative area always surprises me but it really shouldn't because when you think about it most people in this country don't support the war so I'd say that most people around here don't support it either but they are just too afraid to speak out and say so. Of course we had some people drive by and show us they thought we were #1 by showing us their middle finger and we had a few that shouted things like, "Go home!" or "Kill all the rag heads!" at us. Others simply ignored us and drove by in their gas guzzlers. One woman shouted at us, "I'm proud my son is in the army!" If I had had the chance I would have told her that we had nothing against people like her son and that we were probably proud of him too. I would have told her our problem was not with her son but with the people who are his commanders who lied to us in order to drag us into a war that is bankrupting our country and causing the deaths of millions of others.

It's rare at our protests when someone get so angry at us that they get out of their car and say something to us, but yesterday was one of those rare times. Some guy ran over to Rev. John and a guy who was standing next to him and he started jabbering about how we were cowards and criminals for daring to be against the war. He insisted that we had no right to protest if we had not been to Iraq or Afghanistan. I'm never one to miss an opportunity to get my nose in someone else's politics, and neither is my friend Snad, so she and I went over to talk to the little bald dude. He got really mad when we told him it was our Constitutional right to speak out and to protest, we not so gently reminded him that the Bill of Rights says that we not only have freedom of speech in this country, we also have freedom of assembly too. He started screaming about the American rights in Iraq and Snad reminded him that there is no such thing as American rights in Iraq and that Iraq was a sovereign country that we invaded illegally. He kept sputtering that we were cowards who had no right to question the war or the men who run it and we kept telling him that it was not only our right, it was our obligation as patriotic Americans to do so. In the end he finally walked away.

Despite that guy's little display of ignorance and the others who flipped us off, I was heartened by the hundreds of people who drove by and honked in support of us and who gave us the thumbs up in support of our position. The tide out here is turning even more against the war of terror on Iraq and Afghanistan and hopefully that tide will be a tsunami that will wash out more pro war politicians in November. All in all it was a good day to protest because the roads were full of people, I'd say at least 1500 people saw us out there. All in all it was a good protest too because I'm sure that someone who was against the war but felt afraid to say it saw us out there and they now know that they are not alone in opposing the war.

And now lets meet some of the 30 some people who were out on the firing line yesterday:

I never can remember the lady in the foreground's name but she's been to a bunch of demonstrations and I'm pretty sure she goes to Rev. John's church. The lady in the purple jacket is also a veteran on the local protest scene.

Speaking of the man, the myth, the legend that is Rev. Shuck, there he is in all his agitating glory.

And that fat bastard is me.


The skinny guy is Snad's husband John and I forgot the woman's name who is next to him.

These fine looking male speicmens name's are Ron and JW. They both had nice things to say about me and my blog so you know I'm not just blowing smoke when I say that they're two of the finest human beings I have ever met and they will go down in history as two of the most intelligent critical thinkers of this or any other time.

There's one of my heroes, Miss Francis. If I'm half as sharp and on the ball as she is when I get to be her age then I'll be doing damn good.

I didn't meet all these people but I was damn glad they were out in the wind with us yesterday.

And finally here's a shot of Sand, she's on the right, and her brother Mike. They, along with Snad's husband John, have been the engines that have driven the anti war movement in this area for the past year and I'm glad to know them and glad to be their friend. If it hadn't been for them Sparky and I would never have become as active in the movement and we would have never met such great folks like Rev. John, Joseph and Vanessa, Miss Francis, Keith and his sons, and all the other folks who are committed to ending the war and to making this country a more just and peaceful place.

So?

Is anyone really surprised at all that Miss Abu Grahib won't take any responsibility for her actions and that she now blames the media for the fall out of what she and others did?
It doesn't surprise me a bit. Why should she take any blame? Further up her chain of command they don't take a bit of blame or any responsibility at all.
This asshole thumbs his nose at us every day as he changes his justifications and reasons for taking us into the Iraq quagmire. He refuses to admit that he's done anything wrong and he never will see all the harm he's brought to our country because he's too stupid to know that he's done everything the opposite way of how it should have been done. Why should that little gal accept any responsibility when her delusional Commander in Chief doesn't?And by now I'm sure you all heard what this malignant tumor had to say when he heard the two thirds of us oppose his fucking war, if you haven't heard it he said, "So?." So. As in so fucking what? As in "So? Why should I care what the plebes think? I'm in charge here and you people better keep quiet or we'll turn this whole country in to Gitmo." So long to sane sober leadership that listens to the people, so long to leaders who are under the rule of law like the rest of us are supposed to be, so long to common sense and decency, so long to thousands of years of precedent, and so long to your rights. He's going to do just what the fuck he wants and he'll do it for as long as he pleases, no matter what the American people think. After all he's not accountable to us, he's only accountable to the people who help put him in power, the multi national corporations, the crooked Republicans who fixed the elections in Ohio and Florida, and the stooges in black robes that we call the Supreme Court.

I've had enough of their sneering contemptuous rule and their refusal to get help for their delusions. And I've had enough of this fucking never ending war. So I'll be on the streets of Johnson City Saturday with my pals from Concerned TN Citizens and we'll be protesting this insane war from 1:00PM to 3:00PM. We'll be protesting in front of the First Tennessee Bank building on the corner of Mountcastle and Roan if any of you want to join us. I know that protesting two hours on a Saturday might not change the way things are right away but if one or two or fifty or a hundred people see us then maybe they'll get emboldened to take action too and then maybe more people will get involved as a result of that and then maybe our voices will be heard and it'll be like a tsunami and the resulting wave of protest will sweep out the bastards in Washington DC in November and then come January we can get the hell out of Iraq and we can go after the real enemy of this country, the multi national corporations who been running roughshod over all of us in their immoral lust for more and more profits.

I'm proud to say I know a Winter Soldier

While I'm proud and glad that former soldiers who served in the fiasco that we know as the war of terror on Iraq and Afghanistan are speaking out, I'm even prouder to say that I know Jason Hurd, the soldier featured in these videos. I met Jason one morning on a trip to meet with my local douchebag war mongering Congressman. We went to my Congressman's office to ask him to stop supporting the war, the trip was organized by my friend Snad and Rev. Shuck and a couple from his church joined us as well.

Jason also joined us in our march against the war last September and he has, as you can see, not stopped speaking out. Let's all keep speaking out and demanding that we get the hell out of Iraq and Afghanistan and that this country puts an end to war as an instrument of foreign policy.

My pick for woman of the year

From Think Progress:

Bush: ‘never really thought about’ war.
In an interview with Al Arabiya television, President Bush said, “When I campaigned for office, I never really thought about the decision to put men and women in harm’s way. I never thought that that would happen.” “But the war in Iraq is necessary,” he added. A reporter asked if “emotional moments” with relatives and friends of soldiers killed in Iraq would make him “reconsider or rethink” the war. “Not really,” Bush responded.

If you want...

...you can go read what Rev. John Shuck had to say at our anti war march and rally this past Staurday here. The batteries in my camera ran down before I could get a good photo of John speaking. If you look at the above picture, that's him on the far right, sorry to have put you on the far right John, please forgive me, dressed in blue with his arm up. I have no idea what he was doing with his arm up maybe you can ask him in the comments page on his blog. Go on, ask, he won't bite, he's not that kind of Christian.


Thanks again John for helping out and for speaking at the rally and for all the other times you raise your voice for justice and peace.

This is what deomcracy looks like (part 2)

(I recommend you scroll down and read part 1 of my report on our march first if you have not done so.)

As we marched on our appointed route the local police thought we would need protecting from all the right wing nut bags who live around here and Johnson City's finest also got wind of a counter demonstration that was alleged to be going to be out there to counter ours. It's better to be safe than sorry so we gladly accepted the offer of our local men and women in blue to follow us along the way, although really how sorry is it that asswipes might try to do something to harm people out exercising their Constitutional rights? So as we marched the cops kept watch on us until we got to the ETSU campus.

It turns out there was indeed a group of people out to protest our protest. But for those of you keeping score at home, there were over 200 of us and about 15 of them. And I swear this is true, all of them were bikers. And not just any bikers mind you, they were all gray haired bikers with gray beards and moustaches, and the male bikers also had tons of gray facial hair as well. These cheezy riders decided to slap flags on their Japanese made bikes, oh the irony!, and they rode up and down the street as we marched. They'd glower at us and rev their little penises, oops, I mean their motorbikes, and try to act all tough. Here's a photo of one of the pro war, or as they should be called, pro senseless murder and mayhem supporters. Notice how he wants us to "stay the course" and by doing so we will in his small mind "support the troops." Notice also how old he is, he's obviously too old to go fight himself, and if he did go fight, then I'm damn sure he'd want out of that hell hole after about 5 seconds into his first fire fight. That is if he survived the first five seconds of that fire fight. Oh well, it's all "stay the course" as long as it's not his ass on that battlefield.

Note to you old geezer motorcyclists, no one except imbeciles and toddlers are afraid of bikers anymore, especially bikers who drink Metamucil. You guys officially became defunct as scary dudes when my old dentist bought a freakin' Harley. And really, if you guys really wanted to support Americans who are fighting, then you ought to trade in those rice burners and buy some American made cycles. If you do then you'll be helping all those American workers who are in the fight of their lives against imports and against their employers who want to screw them so badly.

Anyhoo, after about 45 minutes of marching all 212 of us made it to the campus of ETSU where the bikers were promptly told to leave since they were not part of the march that was sponsored in part by the ETSU College Democrats and the Campus Clean Energy Initiative (At least I think that's their name anyway.).

Once we all got to Borchuck Plaza on the campus of ETSU we were greeted by more folks who did not march with us but were part of the rally. And by the time we had all marched in 80 degree plus heat some of us were tired.

Those scheming Quaker vixens Blue Gal and Suzy sent their Quaker spies to infiltrate our rally! Actually this guy and his wife and their teenage daughter have been to all the local war protest events and they are one of the reasons why I admire Quakers. They actually live their faith, unlike people like Pat Robertson and everyone on the Trinity Broadcast Network.

This protester sat down on the job.

So did this one. Man, this sitting crap better not be catching on or there may be trouble!

"Git up ya damn dirty liberuls and hippies. Ya'll ain't fit ta breathe the air them soldiers ain't over here breathin'! Ahm gonna wave my penis, oops, Ah means mah gun, at ya!"

This dude is the artistic genius who made that huge puppet of our Chickenhawk in Chief. He's got my vote for artist of the decade.

After everyone milled around and chatted a bit it was time for some music! Sandra introduced the band du jour, ladies and gentlemen, the Feral Throes!

The band has a trippy dreamy country-esque rock and roll sound that reminded me of a less somnambulant Cowboy Junkies. And they also had a cooler than thou, cuter than anything, lead singer. Once again my photography skills are not doing this woman any justice because she is cute, cute, cute. And a damn fine singer and guitarist as well.Here's the rest of the Feral Throes. These dudes worked it like a rented mule. Yay local bands! Yay local bands who play anti war rallies! Yay Feral Thores! If you're in Asheville, Johnson City, or anywhere where these kids play I recommend you check them out.

After a few numbers by the kids in the band we had our first speaker, the Rev. John Shuck. The hipster in the vestments is the Rev. Shuck. John is the kind of minister we need more of in this world. He preaches about justice and peace and he's always been a friend to gays, lesbians, transgendered people, environmentalists, and people who are usually shut out of most churches these days. And get this, he's not a Unitarian, he a freakin' Presbyterian! He gave a great talk to the assembled throng and we all gave him a huge hand after he finished. It's nice to see the kind of man of the cloth that I was taught to look up to when I was a little kid. If I ever go back to church I'd look up the Rev. Shuck and join his church where ever that may be. Unlike most ministers and religious authorities, John is one of the good guys and I'm proud to be agitating with him. After Senor Shuck left the mic the Feral Throes came back on to play a few more numbers and then after them was our next speaker. He is the guy in the far right of this photo in the shades. His name is Jason H. and he's an Iraq war vet. Unlike those denture dudes on the rice burners, Jason actually went to war and thank goodness he came home alive. He served in Baghdad and other places in Iraq. He was in a National Guard medical unit that is based here in Johnson City that got called up. He's back now and he's out of the army all together! Yay Jason! He spoke for a few moments about how the shame he felt over having to wear the same uniform as the liar Gen. Petraus. He also spoke about meeting Iraqi citizens who told him that until the US invaded that they never had to worry about IED's and Al Qaeda and how they never had to worry about their kids getting killed while walking to school or about getting shot by US soldiers for simply driving down their streets. I like Jason a lot and I'm glad he's out and that he can speak out with out losing any of his benefits. As you can see the ladies also like Jason. Go Jason, go.

The final speaker was Joseph F., you remember him from the previous post. Joseph has a doctorate in Political Science, is a Greek native, speaks about four billion languages, does emergency surgery in a pinch, has mastered the black arts of dentistry, and has forgotten more than you mortals will ever know. He's also one of the masterminds behind Democracy Now! Tri-Cities, which is a progressive group dedicated to keeping Democracy Now! on our local NPR station and which is a clearing house for local progressive groups to network with one another. I swear if Joseph is not Sec. General of the UN before he dies then there is no justice in this world. And if I could, I'd have his babies. My man Joseph gave a fiery speech about taking back our country from the bastards who are ruining it, about ending the war, and about how we all could be better activists. I was in awe of him, the dude threw down like nobody's business. That's why I like him so much, he's smart, he's progressive, and he's fun to be around. Vote Joseph for President of the World!

The guy holding the Bush with Mickey Mouse ears sign is Keith. He's father of the two good looking lads in the previous post.

We were quite the eclectic group today. Many diverse organizations joined out march/rally to end the war. Groups such as Bare Assed Babies For Peace,Ron Paul supporters (yes, it's true, Ron Paul supporters joined us today),

Dogs Against Bush,local Muslims, Parasols for Peace and Justice,Cute Moms Against The War,Wall Sitting Coeds for Positive Change,and the gals from The Peace Loving Tye Dyes. We also had some real celebs at our not so little event. Frank Zappa came back from the dead to be at our rally/march. Those dead years have been kind to Frank, haven't they? Lily Allen dropped by for a bit. Or was it Parker Posey?And oddly enough, the V for Vendetta dude showed up. Turns out he's quite the womanizer. Check him out hitting on Travis's wife. Yo, V, that shit ain't cool man. You had your shot with Natalie Portman, leave Travis's wife alone.By the end of the afternoon we found out we had managed to put on the biggest anti war protest in this area since the Vietnam war. Not bad for a small town in one of the most heavily Republican areas of the country. I hope we can build on this positive event and that we can draw more and more people out to protest and to stand up to Bush and the corporate media bullies. I also hope that you folks will agitate in your areas because if we had this big a turn out in east Tennessee then imagine what you could do in your area.

I'm not a religious guy but in honor of all the folks who are people of faith at our march/rally yesterday, I'm leaving you with this photo of a super nice woman with a great sign.

UPDATE: Read one of our local newspaper's account of our march here.

This is what democracy looks like (part 1)

Well my little snickerdoodles, I'm back from the anti war march and rally that I helped organize and let me tell you something kids, it was a smashing success. I honestly thought that if we got 50 people out on this bright warm sunny Saturday that we'd be doing good. But wouldn't you feckin' know it, we ended up with over 200 people at our little anti war/truth surge soiree!!!!!

The idea for the march was cooked up a few weeks back at my friend Sandra's house. She had a bunch of us from TN Concerned Citizens over to her place for a pot luck, and I need to apologize to those fine people for my sorry ass casserole that I brought that day, I promise I'll make it properly the next time we do the pot luck thing. Anyway, a new monkey friend Travis and I got to talking about the upcoming progress report from General Betrayus and we felt like we needed something to counteract the swill he was going to spew, so we cooked up the idea for a truth surge march and rally. We knew too things right off, one was that we were on to something, and the second was that we had to have help, major help, the kind of help only one person could provide, so we called over organizer extraordinaire and all around woman of the year, our hostess that day, Sandra.

Your pal and mine, the rich transplanted Minnesota goodness that is Sandra G.

Travis and his beautiful wife. This picture does not do her justice, she is one beautiful woman, and to be fair, Travis is not so bad himself.

Micki.

Sandra quickly brought in Micki, a super chick in her own right, Frank, an older dude who went to high school with my gf's mom (small world huh), Jim, the owner of The Acoustic Coffeehouse, and some others and we hit the ground running. We spread the word through fliers, the local media, the interwebs, and through most means of communication except smoke signals.

Being the stressed out worry wort I am, I fretted over our turnout all this week. Which is why I was so happy to see all those people who showed up for our march.

Ready to roll.

Please do not feed the protesters or they will follow you home.

Peace loving people from Asheville, NC who rode over to join us, how cool are they?

"C'mon, let's get going, this war won't protest itself."

The guest of dishonor, our Idiot in Chief, King George The Worst.

Just before we were all ready to get going I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and this nice guy said to me, "You're the guy who writes that Monkerstein blog, right?" Let me tell you folks, I nearly pissed my self with surprise that I had a reader, besides Sandra and Joseph, who lived so close to me. His name is Keith and not only did he come to protest the war but he brought his two young sons with him to help protest. Keith's son Cameron. Would you look at the sign he's holding? How much do you love that kid? Ladies, I'm not sure but he may be "available" if you know what I mean.

Not interested in Cameron you say? Well how about Keith's other son Quinn. His shirt pretty much sums up my life, "It seemed like a good idea at the time." If you marriage minded parents want to lock in good looking progressive boys for your daughter, then I'd suggest you give Keith a call before someone snaps up his sons.

Seriously, it was an honor to meet you Keith and your kids, especially since you had such nice things to say about this blog and since you all got out to help us protest the war. I've got a feeling we'll run into one another at more progressive events sometime soon.

A little bit after 1:00 PM Miss Vanessa, or as I refer to her as, The Smartest Woman In The World, laid down the law, I mean, she spoke softly to us about the rules of the march, no marching in the street, no provoking anyone, no jaywalking, no walking against the lights, and no littering. That's her husband Joseph, or as I refer to him as, The Super Intelligent Husband Of The Smartest Woman In The World, who was a speaker at the rally, on her left. After Vanessa's kind words we began our 2 mile march to the campus of East Tennessee State University.

On the march for peace and to end the insane war for oil.

Keep it moving folks, there's a war on.

Check this cutie and her great sign out. How cool is she?

I loved this kid and his sign, "Find a President with a real brain." Man what a kid! His whole family was at the march.

And here they are! I showed that younger kid my sign, which also said, "No more war!" and I said, "Hey dude, we're like related or something." He gave me one of those 'Why is that idiot talking to me?' looks.

Hey, what's Notsoccermom's son doing here in east TN? Ahh, who cares? He's working that sign!

For part of the way I marched beside this cute woman. My camera skills did not do her justice, she is as cute as a button.

I may have been too shy to ask her her name but I wasn't too shy to ask her to hold my sign so I could take more photos.

After marching beside Brown Dress Gal I spotted one of my favorite people in east TN, Miss Frances. She's one of my heroes because she's an older gal, lets just say she's been able to become an AARP member for quite sometime now, who is at every progressive event in my area. She's an agitator from way back and I found out today she also writes a weekly column on environmental issues for a local paper. She is orignially from Germany and now she lives in our area, I think we're lucky beyond belief to have her in our midst. I hope I'm still hitting the bricks to make the world a better place when I'm her age.

Okay, this has been one long ass post and we still haven't gotten to the ETSU campus yet. So, I'm gonna bust up the full report into two parts and I'll post about the rally tomorrow. I promise more pictures, more pithy comments, and more monkey love in part 2 of "This is what democracy looks like."