Update, May 28, 2007

AAR: USCG Rally Pictures

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Eagles stood proudly amongst Old Glory,showing overwhelming support for our service members,??while anti-war leftists protested the most current graduation of the United States Coast Guard Academy.??

View Pictures

BEFORE THERE WERE EAGLES

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In the spring of 2003, before the war in Iraq had even begun, we would see a group of protesters flying the flag upside down, every Sunday, on the same corner as we came home from church in California. While my husband, Air Force Veteran, Jerry English, wanted to get some friends and march them into the nearby sea, cooler heads (Mine!) prevailed;we both have very strong feelings about our Flag! But we wanted to do something to let our local military people know that they were supported. We came up with the idea of printing out on our computer a simple business card.

On one side it simply says THANK YOU with a couple small graphics of the USA flag and a Ribbon with Flag motif. On the back of the card we printed:

During difficult times America’s
finest have put on the uniform of
the U.S. Military.
Your service is appreciated.
Thank You!
God Bless you and yours!

As we started handing them out we realized that we could never get to all of them so we decided to have a RALLY FOR AMERICA / SUPPORT THE TROOPS and it was held March 22, 2003. The media found it to be so odd that they covered it (in advance / and the day of) and we had about 500 people show up! It was awesome. We did another for Armed Forces Day and again for Sept 11th / WE REMEMBER.

We took down names and emails and when Christmas 2003 came around we had sent off 1,167 cards filled with a pack of cocoa or tea and a note of support to a Lt.Col. in Iraq. They were distributed and we got wonderful letters back from the troops! That was a lot of fun so we did it again for Valentines Day; over 1,000 cards. By this time
I had done many media interviews and they kept asking for a name of our group. We decided on CARDS AND COCOA FOR THE TROOPS. But after that we started sending all the important goodies. Beef jerky, wet wipes and Chocolate when it wasn’t to hot.

We have continued to have our March rally and Sept 11th rally for the last five years. We have also shipped off over 5 TONS of goodies to Iraq and Afghanistan. Our group of volunteers numbers about 200 and we have done it all without a committee meeting or being a non-profit or having a web site. After we took on an official name I did get some separate cards printed via vistaprint.com ( 250 cards / free / pay $5 forshipping ) and that has our contacts.

(Military parking permits are Blue for Officer and Red for Enlisted.
Other colors are people who work on the base but are not military!)
We frequently stick them in drivers door jams (with the flag showing!) so it is a treat to find when they come out of the store. We also look for veterans who are wearing their baseball hats stating when / where they served. We have had many an emotional moment giving them a card.

We encourage people to make their own versions of the THANK YOU cards. (If you would like one, please email gabrielle.pike@gatheringofeagles.org)

We have also tied in with Move America Forward and gone at least part ofthe way on two caravans, including this last one in March that met up with the Eagles at the Wall. We had our 5th Annual Rally for America / We SUPPORT THE TROOPS AND THEIR MISSION also on the 17th of March, here locally.

It is exciting to find that more and more people are willing to take thetime to stand up and be vocal in support of our troops!

Proud to be an American!

Sincerely,
Cindy Stanley & Jerry English
-Cards and Cocoa for the Troops Organizers-

???I am only One.
I can not do everything.
But I can do something.
And I will not let
what I can not do
interfere with what I can do.???

-Edward Everett Hale

Grave Robbers

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Kate O’Malley, columnist for Human Events Online and proud fellow Eagle, has a great column up this morning. The article explores the motives behind people like Dan Frasier, an antiwar activist who has produced T-shirts with the slogan “Bush Lied, Soldiers Died,” on top of a list of soldiers who have given their lives in Iraq.

He is making money off these fallen heroes, although according to his website, he isn???t really a very good capitalist, ???In fact, it is not clear that the shirts have generated any profits at all. Much of the first batch of shirts was sold at a deep discount. The shirts were complex to design and expensive to produce. The cost of the shirts has been kept as low as possible to encourage sales and spread the important message. Of course, this product is not meant to be a statement on behalf of the families or the fallen soldiers??? said Frasier in an open letter on his website.

Okay, I will admit that I was not an economics major, so maybe I am missing something here. The shirt is not making much a profit because our friend Dan wants to encourage sales to spread the important political message he believes in, but the message is somehow not meant to be a statement on behalf of the men and women who appear on his shirt. So Dan isn???t doing this for the money, he is doing it to spread a political message. So this isn???t actually a product as much as it is an advertising tool.

Arrrghhh???.my head hurts. Those rascally lefties! Dan isn???t a capitalist after all, he is a political activist! Darn, I knew it was too good to be true.

The article is sarcastic and amusing, yes, but it’s also heart wrenching. Katie skillfully reminds us of what the results of the left’s version of “free speech” are.

Frasier may not be a good capitalist, but he is an accomplished grave robber. He is using dead soldiers, soldiers who can???t protect themselves, to further his own personal agenda. He can do so without the censure of these men and women because they are dead. They are unprotected, unable to be heard, unable to approve or dispute his use of their names. They can not be interviewed on the nightly news to counter his association of their life???s work with his personal cause. They can not call a lawyer to demand the removal of their names nor can they demand a share of his meager profits because, as we have established, he is not a very good capitalist.It is left to the families of these fine men and women to pursue justice. It is not enough that wives and children and parents must attend funerals and empty closets of personal effects. They must now bear the injustice of a political activist aligning their loved ones with a belief and for a cause that they had no opportunity to endorse or dispute.

Cindy Sheehan may be the most well-known grave robber right now, but she is not the only one. People like Dan Frasier, Gael Murphy, and many more are making money and (excuse the pun) capitalizing on the sacrificial love of American soldiers and Marines.

How amazing would it be to live in a nation that wholeheartedly supports her troops and their mission? How incredible would it be to know that your countrymen, to a man, love and honor you for the sacrifices you make? How much easier would it be to approach the battlefield, knowing that those you defend know in their hearts every single day that your job is noble, it is amazing, it is honorable?

Someday, perhaps we will live in that country again. Hope springs eternal.

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West Point Graduation Protest Counteraction: NY

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When: Saturday, May 26th, 2007 ??? Memorial Day Weekend

Where: West Point, Highland Falls, New York

Time: 8:00 am

Antiwar leftists are protesting Bush/Cheney at the commencement for the United States Military Academy’s Class of 2007. This is an incredible chance for Eagles to be seen as the strong force that we are.

If you are traveling from the northeast on the road to Washington DC for Gathering Of Eagles II, consider making this the first stop on your ???freedom trail???. After the rally, convoy in strength with other Eagles to Washington.

There are two assembly areas: at the corner of Main St. and Homestead Ave., outside the Thayer Gate to West Point, and at Veteran???s Park to defend the memorials there. Parking is available at two municipal lots. The first is right by Veteran???s Park on Town Hall Row. The Second is in the median separating Main St. from West Point Highway and extends from Cozzens Ave. all the way to Homestead Ave. The distance between the two assembly areas is approximately ?? mile. At either location look for Marshals wearing GOE armbands for further instructions.

‘Ride to the Wall’

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As I look forward to this weekend with great anticipation of gathering with fellow veterans, I can’t help but think about the significance of the “Ride To The Wall” by Rolling Thunder, what it means to them, and this nation.

President Harry Truman said: “Our debt to the heroic men and women in the service of our country??can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. America will never forget their sacrifice.”

The “Ride to the Wall” is so much a part of remembering and honoring those men and women.

Now more than ever we need to stand up for the troops. We must promise to the defenders of freedom today, no matter where they serve, that we will never allow the congress or the media to create another generation of Vietnam veterans.

We must send a clear message that each and every person in uniform will be welcomed home the day they return to U.S. soil and not have to doubt how their country feels about them.

Doug Hastings
GA, State Coordinator


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"The conversion of the entire population to Islam and the extinction of every form of dissent is the ideal of the Muslim State - This is Islamic Peace"

A moderate Moslem is one who sends others blow themselves up.