Daniel 5:25 -This is the inscription is the "writing on the wall" (for Nebuchadnezzar's son, Belshazzar):
Mene , Mene , Tekel , Parsin
26
-This is what these words mean:
Mene : God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.
27 Tekel : You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.
28 Peres : Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.
News report on AFA bush protest and MoveOn.org bush/mccain challenge
news report on MoveOn.org bush/mccain challenge in Acacia Park
A man takes the Bush/McCain Challenge
MoveOn.org Bush/McCain Challenge host, David Justice, gives an interview
Polly Odgen and David Justice give interviews
Eric gives an interview at the MoveOn.org Bush/McCain Challenge
Eric gives another interview to another station
The MoveOn.org ad for the Bush/McCain Challenge
Take the Bush/McCain Challenge here
The little dicktater sees "the writing on the wall"
At the Fillmore location
and a different location on Academy
Marie holds up her end for junior
Turned away from the overpass
Marie and Pattie hold it up in the wind
Pattie manages a smile
Radley Silla, who took most of these photos
GAGzette coverage by smartass Tom Roeder:
Air Force Academy cadets apparently are made of sterner stuff than anti-war protesters.
While the cadets and their families sat through the early morning fog and drizzle, anti-war protesters deserted rather than wait for a late arriving President Bush.
By the time Bush, whose motorcade was behind schedule, passed through the North Gate, a solitary protester - carrying a sign reading, "War is the not the answer" and flashing a peace symbol - was all that remained of a band of 20 people who planned to greet the president.
The rest cleared out amid slate-gray skies before the president pulled past the gate at 9:45 p.m., 45 minutes after his scheduled arrival.
South of the academy, five other protesters stood on a hillside overlooking Interstate 25 near the Fillmore exit and unfurled a cryptic message.
Their 50-foot long banner read, "Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin," an Aramaic phrase meaning, "It has been counted and counted, weighed and divided."
The biblical figure Daniel interpreted the so-called "writing on the wall" as a judgment against the king Belshazaar, determining that his acts had been weighed and found deficient and that his kingdom would be divided.
"We wanted to speak to him in a language he purports to listen to, which is the Bible," said Eric Verlo. "It was a great location for the motorcade to see us."
A tardy arrival by the president meant a small band of protesters missed their chance to greet him with banners and signs.
A group of about 18 to 20 people who gathered outside the North Gate of the Air Force Academy left before the presidential motorcade arrived, said El Paso County sheriff’s deputy Dan Templeton, who was posted alongside three other deputies working security at the entrance.
“They weren’t even here,” he said.
The motorcade arrived about 9:45 a.m., 45 minutes after the scheduled arrival time released by the Air Force Academy, according to security staff.
Protesters remained in their designated spot — a patch of red gravel behind a set of concrete barricades — and no problems were reported, authorities said.
by
Josh Poland
j.poland@krdo.com
COLORADO SPRINGS - It was not all pomp and circumstance at the Air Force Academy Wednesday morning. With the war in Iraq, protestors have become a common sight at Air Force Academy graduation ceremonies. So it should come as little surprise that protestors were there once again this year with President George W. Bush in town.
Sign after sign lined the entrance to the Academy's north gate entrance. In all, about twenty protestors, both young and old, voiced their opposition to the Bush administration and the war in Iraq.
"I just really don't like George Bush and the war that much," says Peter Rule, who was protesting with his grandmother.
"We believe that Bush is illegitimate and we're here to show our opposition to that and to be a voice for peace and justice in a time when we still have a leader in power who is committed to the exact opposite," says Peter Haney, Director of the Peacemaking Program at the Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission. Haney's group was responsible for organizing the protest.
While some in attendance are opposed to the military in general, others made a point to separate the cadets from their commander.
"Yes, it's a graduation and this is the venue where Bush happens to be speaking and I feel like I'm protesting Bush, not necessarily the commencement or the soldier's work or the cadets in this case," says Sophie Glass, a student at Colorado College.
Several protestors say that depending on the status of the war and the commencement speaker, they could very well be protest again at next year's ceremony.
The visit from the President sparked many protests across Colorado Springs Wednesday.
While President Bush was warmly received at today's Air Force Academy graduation, not everyone in Southern Colorado shared the same feelings.
Many state and national groups held rallies to protest Bush's appearance in our state.
"I'm protesting President Bush being here because I feel that all Americans--civilians and military--are being unfairly treated by our government right now," says Jeffery Powell, Protester.
"I'm here because I strongly disagree with his policies," says Polly Ogden, MoveOn.org member.
They say they're fed up with Bush, and that if John McCain is elected, it'll be more of the same.
The protesters also put up a banner as a message to the President. It's a bible passage, written in Aramaic. Translated, it means your reign has been judged by God.
"We thought something biblical might give him the message to hit the road Jack, and don't come back," says Mark Lewis, CSAction.org member.
Before coming to the park, the protesters flew their banner over the interstate in hopes the President would see it.
