FAO Quotables

"But being right, even morally right, isn't everything. It is also important to be competent, to be consistent, and to be knowledgeable. It's important for your soldiers and diplomats to speak the language of the people you want to influence. It's important to understand the ethnic and tribal divisions of the place you hope to assist."
-Anne Applebaum

Showing posts with label protester. Show all posts
Showing posts with label protester. Show all posts

Sunday, November 27, 2011

FUUO's Pentagon Protesters of the Week Compendium

NOTE:  For those who don't know,  every Monday morning the Pentagon allows only the biggest idiots best and brightest dissenters to post up on the grassy area by the Metro entrance escalators and display their signs. 


I have three POTW entries to add however as my lovely wife and I (and our two pups) are about to begin our cross-country drive out to Monterey this week I am not sure I will have time.  And in the interest of "closing the loop" on my time in the Pentagon I wanted to include  a link to the wackjobs protesters who gave me a chuckle each Monday morning.


NOTE:  For those who don't know,  every Monday morning the Pentagon allows only the biggest idiots best and brightest dissenters to post up on the grassy area by the Metro entrance escalators and display their signs.  The tales of these cantankerous kvetches are below:




Friday, July 15, 2011

Pentagon Protesters and Sorcerers

NOTE:  For those who don't know,  every Monday morning the Pentagon allows only the biggest idiots best and brightest dissenters to post up on the grassy area by the Metro entrance escalators and display their signs. 

It's been a busy week and it's Friday afternoon (and the Harry Potter series finale comes out this weekend)so I will leave you with two great DC "bulletins" that I saw recently!














Monday, June 13, 2011

New Protester of the Week: Singer Actress Doris Day?

I have been remiss in highlighting a Protester of the Week for some time and wanted to start my week off right with a quick profile highlighting ridiculing one of these foolish loons gentlemen. 

This morning was a breezy and cool, fall-Navy-Football kind of morning.  Given the phenomenal weather I wasn’t surprised to see 7 ‘Prots’ manning the rails.  All the usual suspects were there with the usual frenetic signs linking the woes of the world to Christians dumping camels in Palestine and other such nonsense. 

But there was a new sign out there today written on a sizable, clean white poster board in legible black magic-marker handwriting.  It read:

“Our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy rotten system. –Dorothy Day”

A quick moment of self-deprecation:  I thought I knew who Dorothy Day was.  And so as I walked into the PGON I shook my head because I thought this was a really weird thing for her to say.  Once I got to my computer and googled her though I realized that I am an idiot because I thought this woman was Dorothy Day.























Note: the above picture is Doris Day, a noted singer and TV personality. 

It turns out that Dorothy Day was a one-time-anarchist, pacifist and matron/founder of the Catholic Worker Movement.   While I may not agree with everything in which she believed, I can’t argue that she wasn’t someone who worked tirelessly for the poor and oppressed her entire life, remaining a fierce critic of capitalism (ugh) and consumerism (ugh but acceptable).  To that end, she is under consideration with the Catholic church for sainthood.  This is Dorothy:












Sunday, May 8, 2011

Pentagon Protesters of the Week the day after Osama Bin Laden was killed

NOTE:  For those who don't know,  every Monday morning the Pentagon allows only the biggest idiots best and brightest dissenters to post up on the grassy area by the Metro entrance escalators and display their signs. 

As I slouched my way up the Pentagon escalator this past Monday morning, my slight headache was overcome by the residual electricity still coursing through my veins from the night before.  Personally, I half-expected there to be a huge throng of hippie scum protesters out to rail against the killing of OBL, something to match the fervor with which the town of DC celebrated his death. 

To tell you the truth I may have been just the slightest bit hungover 'tired' from celebrating myself the night before at Black Squirrel on 18th St (in a complete aside, Black Squirrel has the best juiciest, most perfectly cooked hamburger that I have had in DC) with a group of about 8 veterans.  It was a memorable night during which we didn't pay for a drink all night as the other patrons in the bar wouldn't allow it.  Periodically we would raise our shot glass and remember someone who had made the ultimate sacrifice for our country, saying his or her name aloud; I said the name of Ronnie Winchester.   















Needless to say, as I stepped off the escalator, there was no throng of frenzied lunatics.  In fact, technically there were just two of them.  Here's why I say technically:

One was older gramma with close-cropped salt and pepper hair that probably drove a Prius with the entire back bumper filled with stickers.   She had a thousand yard xanax stare and a fixed robotic smile.  I am not sure she even knew where she was.  She held a rainbow flag with the word "peace" sewn to it.  

Then there was the other one.  This guy is a regular and an abosolute loon .  He was in his sixties and looked like he'd see 50 one Grateful Dead concert too many.  He wore an ill-fitting raggedy bright blue hobo cap and was holding the old and weathered "Christians dump the Jews..." sign.

I just shook my head, half-chuckling to myself and checked my facebook page as I walked into for another day in the PGON.




http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/09/protester-of-week-christians-dump-jews.html



Monday, April 18, 2011

NEW! Pentagon Protester of the week!

NOTE:  For those who don't know,  every Monday morning the Pentagon allows only the biggest idiots best and brightest dissenters to post up on the grassy area by the Metro entrance escalators and display their signs. 
Protester of the week is back!
As I had said previously, there wouldn’t be any new POTW columns until they brought something new to the table.  And  today they did.  This beautiful spring morning I spied 7 protesters ‘manning the rails’ at the Metro entrance to the Pentagon. 
My primary motivation to write this column today was the presence of a new loon guy out there today.   He had a pair of binoculars (perhaps he’s an ornithologist) hanging from his neck and a powder blue construction helmet to which he had used his 3rd grade arts and crafts skills to affix the letters: U N.   He was in fact bird-like in his manner and he craned forward, squinting his eyes, peering at each PGON passerby.  Obviously, he is going to be a real asset to the Monday protesting team! Oh, and he held the sign: “Arms dealers make a killing”









There was also a new sign that contained an excerpt from Dr. King’s Sermon at the Ebenezer Baptist Church on April 30, 1967 (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16183.htm)
“…It seems that I can hear God say to America, you are too arrogant. If you do not change your ways I will rise up and break the backbone of your power…”
DR MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

I know I have said this many times before, but I really think these protesters are missing their audience.  I make fun of applaud their efforts at the Pentagon each Monday, but that’s just for selfish reasons: I sincerely enjoy my Monday peeks into the realm of the ridiculous/insane.   Perhaps a more appropriate audience could be found by taking some of these signs to the White House or Congress…the LTs through CAPTs using the Metro entrance aren’t influencing anyone beyond how much cream or coffee a Flag officer should have in his/her coffee that morning.  Truly, I am just trying to help these hippies protesters play to the best audience. 
FUUO’s greatest hits:

Monday, March 28, 2011

Pentagon Protester of the WEAK

NOTE:  For those who don't know,  every Monday morning the Pentagon allows only the biggest idiots best and brightest dissenters to post up on the grassy area by the Metro entrance escalators and display their signs. 



I began this job at the PGON excited at the prospect of highlighting a new protester/sign each Monday (for new readers: Monday is Protester day at the PGON and these buffoons ladies and gentlemen are allowed to line up near the entrance and hold their signs).  Unfortunately, I slowly began to realize that they weren't bringing anything new to the table.   Every week, the same tired signs.  One would think that in light of all the revolutions and upheavals occurring throughout the Middle East and North Africa
 these protesters would be re-energized...'tis not the case.  This morning there were only 3 tired dudes, holding three weathered, beat-up old signs.  A sad showing. 
So I offer you FUUO's POTW greatest hits:

Friday, March 4, 2011

Poet of the Week from Syria/Egypt: Khalil Mutran

Poet of the Week from Syria/Egypt: Khalil Mutran


 Mutran Khalil Mutran is my poet of the week!  Please check out this link for a little historical background.  It's interesting that Mutran originally came to Egypt to escape the Sultan's reach (and Cairo specifically).    I love his final two lines where he limits the oppresors' reach to corporeal ones:

For that is the extent of your powers
And in it lays our salvation. Thank you.

Some random interesting links:
http://blogs.dickinson.edu/arabiclitproject/tag/khalil-mutran/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Khalil-Mutran/139673729383915?sk=info  He's got 8 (now 9) 'likes'. 


NOTE: If you'd like to read it in the original arabic click on this blog post's title to be taken to The Moor Next Door's excellent blog.

BOYCOTT

Displace our best by land and by sea!
And kill our free, freedman after freedman [one by one]!
But in the long run good will remain good
And evil will remain evil.
Snap our pens! Will breaking them
Stop our hands from carving into stones?
Cut off our hands! Will hacking them off
Keep our eyes from casting our glare upon you?
Poke out our eyes! Will blinding us
Stop our chest(s) from breathing exasperated sighs?
Smother our breathing!
For that is the extent of your powers [For that is your effort or power] –
And in it lays our salvation. Thank you.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Pentagon Protester of the Week Update

NOTE:  For those who don't know,  every Monday morning the Pentagon allows only the biggest idiots best and brightest dissenters to post up on the grassy area by the Metro entrance escalators and display their signs. 

Nothing to report.  Unfortunately, the protesters still are refusing to bring some 'brand new flava'...and the dude with the mickey mouse ears...still (extra) creepy and weird.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

FUUO Truthism

If you are a Pentagon Monday Protester, it is VERY hard for me (or any of the passers-by at whom you are 'raving', literally raving at) to take you seriously when you are wearing Mickey Mouse Ears.

Period.

That is all.

This is not one of the Pentagon protesters but you get the idea.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Pentagon Protesters, I implore you! Step up your game!

NOTE:  For those who don't know,  every Monday morning the Pentagon allows only the biggest idiots best and brightest dissenters to post up on the grassy area by the Metro entrance escalators and display their signs. 


A column that I began with considerable vigor and gusto has deflated.  There will be no protester of the week this week.  For the past several weeks I have readied my Iphone voice memo app as I ascended the Pentagon metro escalator, eager to record my thoughts on the jaded warped interesting protester signs.  But each week I have been met not with new and timely demands of the Department of Defense.  Nay, instead I am met with yellowed, smudged, tired old signs that don’t appear to have been updated in decades.  This surprises me because you would think if you were motivated enough as a protester to go through ALL the effort of showing up every Monday morning, you would also be motivated enough to create new signs that would garner the attention of the rank and file Pentagon employees.  
Amid such tedium my only option would be to comment on the interesting protester choices of attire—such as the older gentlemen sporting the classic “Birken-socks” look and the other middle-aged man wearing the moose ears stocking cap.  But really, I feel like this is reaching a bit and that my readers deserve more.  They deserve witty biting commentary on the ridiculous insanity  different signs.  And as such, I am only as good as the material with which I work.  Therefore:

I am boycotting YOU protesters!  Until you bring me something new, some original thought, I will cease to comment on your efforts.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Pentagon Protester of the Week- In Absentia

NOTE:  For those who don't know,  every Monday morning the Pentagon allows only the biggest idiots best and brightest dissenters to post up on the grassy area by the Metro entrance escalators and display their signs. 

Protester of the Week

This entry is for a protester two week ago…there is no winner this week since yesterday the 6 protesters were just standing around in a circle holding hands in what I would assume would be prayer but it could have also been some new age witchcraftish cult circle in which they were calling upon the dead spirits of hippies/protesters past…needless to say, I expect a little more emotion from them in the future if they wish to be ridiculed commented upon by me.


Without further ado:

This morning there was a slight bite to the air as I rose from the warm arms of mother metro to the Pentagon entrance.  I saw that the weather had kept some of the fair-weather protesters away, but 4 ardent lunatics citizens had grabbed their umbrellas and galoshes and showed up to make my morning. 

IN AN UNPRECEDENTED MOVE BY FUUO the winner this week was not physically present (read on for the reveal)!

However, the winner’s father stood with his graying goatee underneath a blue and yellow umbrella (perhaps a sly nod to the Navy blue and gold?…maybe a secretive, desperate plea to the military to free him from the manacles of the vicious protesting cycle in which he has found himself enslaved) with a sign that stated:

No weapons in Space

In and of itself this is not a very maniacal or controversial statement, after all we hardly get our own astronauts into space anymore, let alone weapons…so I am not sure if this is a plea/protest or merely a taunt?
However, it was not the message itself that won me over—what sealed it for me was that despite his anti-american self-hatred communism political convictions he was not above a little child labor.  And who doesn't love that.

Because there was no way a fully functioning adult made this sign. 

Only the imagination and genius of a child could have thought to create the stars that twinkled throughout his sign—clear indications of the ‘space’ spoken in the sign.  And of course, without these stars, I would have been forever haunted with uncertainty as to whether the protester meant ‘outer space’ or was referring to the more general ‘communal space’

I have attempted to recreate this sign for my readers.  Believe me though, it doesn’t even come close to doing justice but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.  

Protesting aside:  there was another sign that stated:  “Weapons make some rich and others dead”…while true, the same could be said about McDonalds, cigarettes, base jumping, skateboarding, boxing, sex, pig farming, magic markers etc…I would encourage this protester to get a little more specific on future signs if he hopes to make an impact.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Pentagon Protester of the Week-Practice Non-Violence!

NOTE:  For those who don't know,  every Monday morning the Pentagon allows only the biggest idiots best and brightest dissenters to post up on the grassy area by the Metro entrance escalators and display their signs. 

On this dreary drizzly Monday morning  I expected a sparse protesting crowd given the darkness of their flip-floppy wish-washy hippie scum souls.  But count me surprised. 

They were 8 strong out there this morning.  This brought a smile to my sleepy, boderline grumpy face.   My favorite guy out there today was an older grandpa with a bright yellow raincoat (and accompanying goofy yellow raincoat hat).  He was high waving happily to everyone walking by and holding up one end of a sheet poster that stated:

PRACTICE NON-VIOLENCE

in rainbow painted colors. 

My recommendation to him for future signs would be to modify the sign to read as follows:

PRACTICE NON-VIOLENCE man

I think adding the "man" on the end of it could really add some humor that would resonate with the younger junior officers passing by. 

OVERALL ANALYSIS
    While certainly a nice sentiment, urging our military members to practice peacefulness and gentleness is probably not the best advice unless we want to become France.  There are certainly segments within the military that this protester's plea could help...I can think of a few airbosses and one former Skipper whose speech and demeanor would be well served with even a smidgen of "non-violence."

My overall takeaway from today's protester is this:

You can pretty much be holding a sign saying anything and if you are wearing a bright yellow raincoat I will smile at you!

























Practice Losing Wars!

Monday, September 20, 2010

Pentagon Protester of the Week: FYI: Drones are always tools of terrorism

NOTE:  For those who don't know,  every Monday morning the Pentagon allows only the biggest idiots best and brightest dissenters to post up on the grassy area by the Metro entrance escalators and display their signs.  


Skeleton crew out in the protest zone this morning.  Only three out there today. Two older white-haired men (one with a backwards purple hat-perhaps channeling his inner 1980's MTV self) and a tiny ancient woman that appeared to be shrinking and disappearing under her large and colorful scarf/bandanna.


The protest of the week today: 

FYI: Drones are always tools of terrorism
Initial Observations:
-I am glad he included the FYI.  It immediately let me know that he had something of value to share with me.  Thanks shipmate. 
-For some reason, I didn't picture unmanned aerial vehicles when I saw his sign.  Instead I thought of Star Wars. 






















Analysis:
-Nothing is ever ALWAYS. 
-I doubt he was referring to the Star Wars drones.  But who knows, some of these guys appear to be real wackjobs.
-In which case, I would be hard-pressed to find a way in which unarmed observation 'drones' are tools of terrorism.  


Conclusion/Remarks:
-Again we loop back to differing definitions of 'terrorism.' 
-Without getting too serious here though, a valid discussion could be centered around the relative value that the United States places on the life of one of its own citizens and that of someone from say, Afghanistan for instance.   This is a discussion (for a different blog post altogether) that is addressed early on in Shannon Beebe's excellent The Ultimate Weapon is No Weapon. 


THERE ARE MORE PROTESTERS OF THE WEEK HERE:
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2011/11/fuuos-pentagon-protesters-of-week.html

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Pentagon Protester of the Week- Christians Dump the Jews

NOTE:  For those who don't know,  every Monday morning the Pentagon allows only the biggest idiots best and brightest dissenters to post up on the grassy area by the Metro entrance escalators and display their signs. 

Meant to post this on Monday...

  A beautiful Monday morning coming up the escalator.  There were only six protesters today:  two elderly woman, a young guy and girl, an older gentlemen with a mullet and one with glasses and a short man.
Not sure if their appearance is worth describing much beyond that, after all, they're communists crazy just normal people. 

The protester of the week this week was the older gentleman with a mullet.  I kid you not, here's what his sign said:

"Christians dump their Jewish victims
 on a poor desert country
 in the British desert empire Israel"

Initial observations:
-This guy wasn't an English major.
-And maybe not even a high school graduate.

Analysis:
-His obvious target here are Christians. 
-His assertion (from what I can tell) is the Christians have ensconced the Jews of the world from their homes and 'dumped' them in Israel

Conclusion/Remarks:
-How is it possible to draw a conclusion from this gobbleygoo?
-Why is the Pentagon crowd his target audience?
-What does he hope to accomplish?

   The protester this week succinctly illustrates the sheer entertainment craziness that greets me each Monday morning. 

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Pentagon Protester of the Week: Thank You PFC Bradley Manning

NOTE:  For those who don't know,  every Monday morning the Pentagon allows only the biggest idiots best and brightest dissenters to post up on the grassy area by the Metro entrance escalators and display their signs. 


So this week, there was a racially diverse crowd of about 7 people I think.  Personally I am always a little afraid to stare too long.  First because I don't want them to talk to me.  Second, I am afraid I'll follow in Lot's wife's shoes and turn to salt (never a good start to a Monday).

Just to set the stage a bit, these are never loud unruly protesters.  They usually just stand there with their signs.

So this week, I saw a sign that said simply: THANK YOU PFC BRADLEY MANNING.

I thought this a weird sign since I had no clue who he was.  Turns out he is being charged with leaking classified documents while in Iraq. 
He's also been classified as a 'person of interest' in the Wikileaks drama. 

Michael Moore has praised him saying he "did a courageous thing and a patriotic thing."

Well sorry PFC Manning, any hope for sympathy or empathy just went out the window after hearing that. 

Let me be clear, it is FUUO's official unofficial position that Michael Moore is an idiot. 

Evidently, Michael Moore believes so fervently that PFC Manning 'must be set free' that he has donated $5000 to his legal defense.

NEWSFLASH: FUUO would like to change its position on Michael Moore:

Michael Moore is a cheap idiot.

5000 bucks Michael?  Are you serious?  Lawyers charge clients 5 grand just to shake their hands. 

The heart of the matter comes down to this:  when PFC Manning joined the military and was granted access to classified material he signed non-disclosure agreements.  He gave his word.  He knew the consequences of his actions and he did them anyways.  I have little no sympathy for him. 

The argument whether or not it was morally right for him to leak the information is irrelevant (but it was wrong).  On a humanist, philosophical scale, sure it was his 'right' to break his word.  But it's also the 'right' of government to punish him.  Anytime you break a rule, you must be prepared for the punishment. 



4334

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/08/ap-michael-moore-wikileaks-082010/

Monday, August 30, 2010

Pentagon Protester of the Week- Disarm Now!

NOTE:  For those who don't know,  every Monday morning the Pentagon allows only the biggest idiots best and brightest dissenters to post up on the grassy area by the Metro entrance escalators and display their signs. 


Pentagon Protester of the Week- Disarm Now!


The U.S. is the #1 terrorist in the world, DISARM NOW!

This happy statement greeted me this morning.  These birkenstocks-with-white-socks-wearing-hippie scum protesters went all out this morning, eschewing their normal cardboard and painting out their mantras on white bedroom sheets.  It immediately took me back to my plebe year, making the sheet posters before the Navy football games. 

So let's look first at the defintion of 'terrorism' as we address the protesters stationed in grass area atop the metro entrance this morning. 
World English Dictionary
1.  systematic use of violence and intimidation to achieve some goal
Legal dictionary
1.  the unlawful use or threat of violence esp. against the state or the public as a politically motivated means of attack or coercion

According to these definitions, I wouldn't say the United States necessarily falls into these categories.  However, even if we were the #1 Terrorists in the world, I am not sure that 'DISARMing' the United States is the next logical step.  I would say the protesters need to further refine and define what it is that they exactly want to accomplish. 

And as I have said before I would like to know if they are also protesting at the White House and Capitol Hill since there is no one here at the Pentagon that is going to make the decision to DISARM the United States. 

However, I continue to salute their once-a-week dedication to the downfall of United States National Security freedom of the United States.


The protesters in their younger years.