Good news report about the Kent State rally

[WilliamPitt]

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/local/states/ohio/counties/portage_county/8592433.htm?1c

Anger over Iraq evident at KSU commemoration

Students, protesters gather on campus for anniversary of May 4, 1970, shootings

By Stephen Dyer
Beacon Journal staff writer

KENT - Thirty-four years ago, National Guardsmen armed with World War II-era rifles marched up Blanket Hill, turned at the Taylor Hall pagoda and fired into a crowd of students -- some of whom were protesting troops on their campus and America's presence in Cambodia.

Four students -- Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer and William Schroeder -- fell in the Taylor Hall parking lot and never rose again.

Tuesday afternoon, the overwhelming sense among those who gathered to remember those four was how little has changed.

Palpable anger at the Iraq war and its similarity to Vietnam was the unifying theme among the few hundred who sat and watched the event.

The comments at times were strident, as when Alan Canfora -- one of the wounded in the 1970 shootings -- called President George W. Bush the ``idiot stepson'' of Vietnam-era presidents and declared that former President Richard Nixon and former Ohio Gov. James Rhodes (who called out the Guard) ``are together again, burning in hell.''

That final comment drew gasps from even this clearly partisan crowd.

Other statements, while strong, were less strident.

``They used Sept. 11 against you.... I can think of few greater crimes,'' said William Rivers Pitt,a critic of the Bush administration and managing editor for www.truthout.org, an online news and opinion site. Pitt is the author of the best-selling paperback War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to Know.

Pitt wore a black leather jacket to the event and spoke strongly about the Iraq war.

``Make no mistake,'' he continued, ``it was a crime. It was a crime, and by God there's going to be a reckoning for it.''

The crowd cheered.

...more...

[Squeech]

1. I read the speech on Truthout

Excellent speech. You rock, dude.

[silverlib]

2. Excellent speech!

I read it yesterday and emailed it to my friends.

Top form, as usual.

[keithyboy]

3. Thanks for the update, Will

and the great work you are doing trying preserve our nation.

[VelmaD]

4. Sounds like you rocked the house

Way to go! :yourock:

[liberalhistorian]

5. He did, indeed, and he also

did a great job on the forum panel Monday night, especially with the lone conservative on the panel, a smart-ass know-it-all KSU senior who had no problem at all with the PATRIOT Act and put forth the usual bullshit about "if you're not doing anything wrong, you shouldn't have a problem with it", "it makes our country much safer", "it's no big deal because it's similar to laws that were already on the books", "liberals stifle free speech on this campus" (as a KSU graduate, I can honestly say that the opposite is true, espcially now), etc., etc. Will and the other panelists (including an ACLU rep) had a lot of fun with him and did a good job exposing his arguments for the bullshit they were.

And for those DUers who have a problem with Will because they think he's too "full of himself", "stuck-up", etc., etc., I say get over it because he's very unpretentious and down-to-earth in person and he has the guts to stand up and KICK REPUKE ASS!

[VelmaD]

7. He is a live wire in person...

isn't he? Funny as hell and very down-to-earth.

I just bet he tore that poor young rethug a new one. I've heard him go off on the PATRIOT Act and it's a riot. When he was in Austin he was the main speaker at a PATRIOT Act town hall meeting. It was stunning.

"I have listened to the defenses of the Patriot Act offered tonight. The essence of the defenses, the essence of the rebuttals to our reservations and complaints, is "Trust us. We're the government. We're the constitutional scholars. Trust us."

I've heard that before.

There are tons of mass destruction weapons in Iraq. Trust us. There are al Qaeda terrorists all over Iraq. Trust us. September 11 happened because of enemies who hate our freedoms. Trust us.

With all due respect, I say hell no. The one thing this government's behavior has not created is trust."

Yup, he was on fire that night. :)

So, any good dirt on what he got up to after y'all got a few beers in him? ;)

[liberalhistorian]

9. Yes, he did just that on the panel,

and what was really funny was that he was sitting right next to Mr. Know-it-all Freeper. He was on fire both on the panel and during his speech. And yes, he does have a great sense of humor as well and is very easy to talk to.

Unfortunately, we didn't get any beers in him; the candlelight march and vigil wasn't over until past midnight and I'm sure he was very, very tired at that point. But I did stay at the same hotel as him (no, you gutter-minders, NOT in the same room, lol)!

[VelmaD]

10. Bummer...

he's a hoot once he's had a couple. :beer: He starts singing bad Led Zeppelin. :crazy:

[liberalhistorian]

11. Oy!!!

You're kidding! Whoa, now THAT would have really been something to see and hear, lol!

[VelmaD]

12. No joke...swear to gawd

To this day, if I'm having a rough day, all he has to do is start singing the intro to "Immigrant Song" and I crack up. :) It has to be heard to be believed.

[WilliamPitt]

15. aaaaaaaAAAAAAAAaaaaaaa....AAAA!!!

[VelmaD]

16. *giggle*

I'm gonna be sitting in my staff meeting this afternoon and I'm gonna hear you in my head and I'm gonna start giggling and everyone I work with is gonna think I've finally gone completely mental...and it's All. Your. Fault.

Thanks doll-baby. :P

[kentuck]

6. A personal note about Kent State ....

My uncle and I were driving I-75 to Detroit on that fateful day and were passing that area of Ohio as the news story was breaking. At that time, I had no idea of how historical the story would become.

[stopbush]

8. My alma mater, 1972-76...School of Music

A couple of my siblings still live within 25 miles of the campus.

[LuLu550]

13. Tin soldiers and Nixon coming

we're finally on our own...this summer I hear the drumming
Four dead in Ohio.

[Wapsie B]

14. I hope those

that fired those shots that day have lived in their own personal hell on earth from that day forward.
I would love to find out who was in that unit and who pulled the trigger.

[bread_and_roses]

17. The speech was wonderful, written

I would have loved to hear it delivered. There were points reading it where I literally felt chilled, remembering that day. I was a college student on another campus; the horror and rage were indescribable. I thought Mr.Pitts speech a great call to action and hope it is widely read.

[liberalitch]

18. We're finally on our own....

four dead in Ohio.