Jeremy
Hogan
You
are a guest
Bush is our neighbor
(page
2)
Week
2, day One
This
week I got three hours of sleep and a better rental car. Its important
Ill be sleeping in it. Itll be my apartment, my office, my guerilla
journalism news bureau for the next couple days.
There
is no way to cover this without Cindy Sheehan. I had to come back
there
was no choice.
A
sign reads pro-Bush rally this way
I know the George and Laura on the billboard
I just passed would approve. Just look at the smile in the picture.
But
I pull into the Peace House parking lot and a man asks, Are you on the right
or on the left
Neither,
Im a journalist
Im looking for the truth.
Isnt
there a law against that, he mocks in jest?
Not
the last time I checked but then again thousands of pages of the new Patriot Act
is on the books so who knows
fuck it. Ill rely on the first Amendment
while I still can, he gives me this look
theres a spot for
you at the end of the lot
youll have to squeeze in.
How
far is that right wing rally, I ask some long haired baby boomer who has
a ponytail
and I get a really strange look
about 2 miles down
but its way too hot to walk in this heat
you wont make it.
I am already
late
the trip from Indiana took longer than I thought it would. I had stood
half an hour in line for my rental car where a Latino man was the only worker
the man behind me was impatient
he was pissed they wouldnt
give him his car on the spot
then he was talking about colored people.
His wasp energy was bad, real bad and I pictured him being part of the cop convention
in Las Vegas Hunter had written about 30 years ago.
Maybe
hes one of those police psychologists claiming to be experts in criminal
behavior. Perhaps he created a study on how to profile based on race and class.
He looks like one of those silver spooned conservative professors the Universities
are full of who wouldnt know reality if it blew their house down. I dont
know but hes definitely an arrogant asshole.
I
walk across to the peace house and a man has a sign, Cindy
god took
Casey. The counter protesters, or whatever they are, stand over there on
the corner with some other right wing protesters.
Just
down the street another man is hammering in a sign, No Parking Private Property.
Nice.
I
figure Im not going to make it to the right wing rally
but the Yellow
Rose is just up the Street and Ill get all the rhetoric I need from the
other side there. And Im not disappointed, there is a cardboard cutout of
W. behind the huge statue of the Ten Commandments.
People
are milling about. Some are waving flags, some are wearing flags (which I learned
in Boy Scouts is a no no) and many just look like pissed off middle aged, SUV
driving, yuppies from Los Angeles or somewhere.
But
one man with a sign reading support the troops looks like he might
be ok. He seems very conservative but maybe not totally right wing and hateful.
I know him, but I dont, Indiana is full of people like him. He wouldnt
hurt anyone. If someone were broken down in the country hed stop to help.
He believes all that stuff about being a good American and tries to live it. Hes
a victim of the spin and the bullshit as much as Casey Sheehan was. Hes
not a high paid dick like Bill OReilly. Im sure OReilly talks
about the elitist media but what is he
doesnt he get paid millions?
Who
are you working for? the nice Republican man queries.
I
came here independently
I reply. And this seems to be a good enough
answer. He relaxes
My
boy was one of the first to die in Falluja he says. He says hes here to
support the troops. He and his wife are just as polite as can be. We began to
converse and then somehow the subject becomes my own father.
Yeah
hes a Vietnam Vet, the mans smile rolls off his face
like ice from a windshield.
But,
thats war. By the way, where is the bus to the anti-Sheehan rally
didnt they have a bus coming from California
Yeah
its at the Stadium, he says.
I
got the hell out of there. So I am walking back down to the Peace House where
I think I will be able to catch a bus to Camp Casey 1. The line is way too long.
But I heard there were a lot of right-wingers there and there was going to be
a show down between them and the Sheehan supporters outside Bushs ranch.
However, today there was no shuttle, the cops shut down the road. Someone reminds
me that the cops not allowing Sheehans protest is impossible after the government
burned around 80 members of the Branch Dividian religious sect during the early
1990s in Waco.
A
woman passing in a mini van
she could definitely be a soccer mom
recognized me from last weekend when the anti-war vigil continued without Cindy
Sheehan. The door flies open, get in. Ill take you to Camp Casey II,
theres no way to get to Camp I.
Next
Page