Anti-Anti-War-Protest Protest, Part II

So another Saturday came and went, and with it, the Anti-War protest on the Greenfield common.

And along with that, the response from the ideological opposition, camped out across the street on the sterile concrete sidewalk in front of a bank, the irony of which was not lost on beatgrl.

And as it happened, the pro-war saber-rattling this week was particularly feeble, being expressed as it was by two Genuine ‘Mericans® and ten or so five gallon pails of sand holding incendiary signs, the latter group of which seeming to be somewhat lacking in the requisite enthusiasm one might wish for if one is going to make an impact in the deep-blue backwaters of decidedly blue Massachusetts.

And so, after a hearty round of manhugs on the common, I headed over to offer a bit of moral support to the two guys and ten sand-buckets who had given up a portion of this beautiful Saturday to try, as they saw it, to make the world a better and safer place.

I connected first with the organizer of the anti-anti’s, whose name presently eludes me.

Yeah, I took it over the edge in the 70’s. And I have to admit that I’m paying for it now.

Anyway, The Man and I talked about the weather for a bit, then got down to brass tacks.

“I’m really grateful that you have the courage of your convictions to be here week after week, supporting your point of view. But I’m concerned that you may not be operating on the same information that we Peace People are operating on.”

Blank stare.

“I’m sure you have some reason to believe what you believe. Do you ever go ‘on line’ to find information, and can you maybe share some links with me to get me up to speed on why you believe what you do?”

Blinks.

“I don’t do that.”

“Oh” says I. “Then how do you get the information to back what you believe?”

“I read a lot.”

And he pointed me to a book I’d never heard of, written by a retired General whom I’d never heard of, which assured it’s readers that Al Qaida was indeed based in Iraq and had been supported by Saddam Husein.

Contrary to everything our own administration has been able to discern, despite their best efforts.

I proffered that a lack of real information was causing a lot of well-meaning Republican-Americans to believe things which weren’t true; he countered that “You Lefties” were blissfully ignorant of the facts of the matter.

Like, for instance, that American troops had so far found over fifty of Saddam’s nuclear weapons…

And now it was MY turn to blink, stagger backward from the abyss which separated us.

But you know, he reads a lot. And I don’t. So maybe I missed something along the way.

But I have to wonder – if we’d found ANY “nucular weppinz,” wouldn’t this (mis)administration be crowing and strutting like drunken frat boys, instead of positing that they’d been “misled by faulty intelligence?”

So as a sort of “Question Of The Day,” I’m asking you, just how many nucular weppinz did we find while I was out picking flowers?

And for ten bonus points, what might I say to this guy to get him to question his absurd assertion? Have you any references to weapons inspectors’ reports and suchlike which I might point him at?

Thanks in advance for helping me with this; I’m a bit dazed by the informational divide.