This Is Why I Hate

the fucking media. In our paper edition of today's Reno Gazette-Journal there was a big letters to the editor section, and in there, in addition to the usual pro-war nonsense letters, were a half dozen very articulate letters critical of the war and critical of the pro-war people who sought to harass anti-war protestors last weekend in Reno. But do you think the RGJ would put those online? Hell, no.

Here's what they have online:

link

Here's a letter that was censored out of the online edition:

"I attended the peace rally at the Federal Building, and, after reading the Associated Press article in the Gazette-Journal, I wanted to correct what was obviously a misconception.

"In my view, the 'Rally for America' crowd did not stumble upon us 'inadvertantly.' They stormed into our area with their flags waving, shouting us down with invective you wouldn't want your children to hear. As far as I'm concerned, they were exercising some well-orchestrated tactics to intimidate and subdue us, and they succeeded.

"It was a sad spectacle that reminded me of the jackbooted thugs of Nazi Germany.

"What makes the whole scene even worse was to learn that Lt. Jim Ballard and Washoe County Deputy District Attorneys Jim Shewan and Roger Whomes were participants. No wonder the cops stood idly by.

"I served my country, honorably, in the U.S. Navy for four years during the Vietnam conflict and stood there, silently, while being called a traitor.

"I was the true American that day, along with my peace-loving friends. We were exercising out right to dissent, which was the very foundation this country was founded on in the first place. Perhaps a history lesson is in order." --Steve Moore, Reno

Here's another one:

"On Saturday (March 22) we were called slanderous names by members of the Rally for America. We were harassed, jostled, threatened and physically intimidated by those who overwhelmed us. Is none fo the above 'breaking the law'? We have witnesses to these acts and news videos of their malicious actions. There is no excuse for the primitive behavior and mad-dog attitudes of the mob, which descended on the RAWC.

"According to your article of March 23, three law-enforcement officers were among those with RFA expressing their 'off-duty' opinions. Law-enforcement officers must be held to a higher standard, and I question whether they are ever 'off-duty.' Only the highest standards of behavior are acceptable in one who is sworn to uphold the law.

"How much manpower would it have taken to post one or two officers at the west side of Virginia to keep marching pro-war traffic separated from the east side site of RAWC?

"The citizens of Reno require that the RPD are capable of evaluating an event, anticipating degrees of danger and taking immediate steps to avert that possible danger. As citizens we have a right to expect equal protection regardless of the 'personal opinion' of your men." --Corrine Cole-Donald, South Lake Tahoe, California

*****

Those are just a couple of the letters printed in the print edition of the RGJ but NOT on the online version. I don't buy the argument that those letters were omitted from the online version because of space considerations. There were short letters on the anti-war side in the RGJ that could have been included in the online version.

The "RAWC" mentioned in the letters is the Reno Anti-War Coalition.

Because of the ignorance and hostility of the knee-jerk right- wing in one of the most right-wing of all areas of the country, I have been reluctant to join the protests, even though they are held just a few blocks from where I live. It's the shits when one doesn't even have the right to peaceably dissent without harassment.

Not all of us who live in the Great Basin are ignorant beer swilling rednecks who get our "news" through Bill O'Reilly, Rusty Humphreys, or Fox News.