I walked up to Mr. Johnson & by way of introducing myself, I stated my username.
Now this guy is either very good at deception or he has a very good memory. Before I could mention The BooMan Tribune, which was to be my next intro line, he said “Hey, How are you?” as if he recognized me from here at the tribune. So he remembered me from my comments or he knows how to speak to people. I mentioned that he had said, if Fred Thompson ever announces his candidacy, that he wanted someone to ask him how he liked representing the treason faction of the republican party. So now that he`s announced, what was he [Mr. Johnson] going to do about it. His reply gave me more confidence in the ultimite survival of this country as I always envisioned it to be, not because of the content of it, but because of his confident & determined manner in which he gave it.
He told me though, that there were plenty of things they were doing & working on & that the process of restoring sanity here, would not waver.
The moderator, Ian Masters, a very wellspoken & seemingly knowledgeable man, started his talk by way of announcing how the evening was to progress, who would be speaking & a little about them. As the evening progressed I could see that Ian Masters, was more than a moderator, but a person that shared the same thoughts, fears, & feelings about the state of affairs , as the people who came to hear the speakers.
Mr. Ray McGovern sits in front of me & since we had just seen him on a screen showing his “nerve’ when he shot down Don Rumsfeld`s claim to never having said he knew where Saddam`s WMD`s were, by calling him a liar, I had to congratulate him thank him for his 27 years in the service to this country, & his ongoing efforts to bring forward & educate as many people as possible to the facts that some people already know but need to be reinforced & to those who don`t yet know that they`ve been bent over .
The moderator Ian Masters had given us a brief history of Mr. McGovern`s career, & one of the things that he had done was to present, to the POTUS, by hand, the Presidential Daily Briefing.
[” We never could have imagined” Condi Rice.]
One of the things I noticed about Mr. McGovern was that he was just like your dad, or your friend. There was no pretention, it was true. Whatever he was saying, it was very easy to trust he was speaking the truth, & you could see it better when listening to him voice his aprehension, about even begining to speak out.
After being called a “Wuss”[ by his friends,& in humor] for not immediately speaking out & being pointed to Cindy Shehan & Rachel Corrie who weren`t afraid, he decided to go for broke & called the liar [Rumsfeld] a liar. He then mentioned how there were “Raging Grannies” out there, now where were the raging grampas. The lady in front of me started whooping & clapping, as if she also wanted to know where they were. I tapped her on the shoulder & said, “Right behind you, lady”
Mr Johnson, explained how the people you grow up with in a career, is much the same as a group that gravitate towards a like minded group in college. Those connections are reinforced through time & to this day they remain a very tight group. There are some very very “POed” people who will not let Valerie Plame`s outing & her husband`s, Mr. Wilson, name be treated in the manner in which they have. He stated that there were assets, more than just Valerie Plame, that were lost due to the actions of people like Libby, & those who were involved in her outing.
They have done “Great Harm” to this country, he said.
He was not a happy man, when he was talking about that. I would not want to be the subject of his conviction to fix this wrong.
A few more points, for whatever it means.
At the question period, about 30 people lined up for questions. Jeebus,
I know we were in Venice Ca. but when the conspiracy people started talking or getting a little out there, a lot of people left. Then there were others, one, who wanted to explain his own personal “Deja Vu” with many contorted hand motions. It reminded me of Led Zeppelin, you know, “Ramble On”.
Then an impaired person, remember, we`re in Venice, tried to mumble about something most people couldn`t hear, so Larry said, “I`ll take that one.That`s an easy question, uh! no, wait [ it wasn`t], I`ll give you an easy answer.” More questions on whether we should worry about martial law.
Mr. johnson sugested that there were legal steps that should be taken & that the rule of law should be followed.
Invasion of Iran: Mr. McGovern, is of the opinion that the military has stopped the presidents eagerness to do so by presenting him with a “Day After” scenario, in which he was convinced it was not a good idea, but one can`t watch bush all the time & if cheney got his mitts in that oven, all bets were off. He did go on to explain the utter idiocy of attacking Iran by explaining the “Day After” briefing which the president was given. Interestingly, he linked how the lobby for Israel who have been cheering an attack on Iran for a long time, would be a major loser if it did come about.
Then in the question period, a lady stood up & questioned why he was so quick to mention Israel, but had not mentioned “oil”.
Another lady got up & sorta tried to maybe imply that since they were both CIA insiders tthat they had some kind of agenda that they were involved with at this very moment to pull more wool over “OUR” eyes.
A guy over on my side of the room said to a rude lady next to me, “I don`t trust that guy on the right”. He was speaking of Mr Johnson.
A few minutes later, he started talking over me again to the same lady. I told him it was very rude to interrupt my listening, they`re answering questions & interrupting the poeple who came to ask the questions.
And don`t trust the guy on the left, that`s me on your left buddy.
A few other people started chiming in about not learning anything new bla bla. The moderator Ian Masters tells the people it`s not cool to be insulting “Guests” . Meeting is pretty much over. I went & thanked Mr.Johnson who was surrounded by people with more questions, & also MR. McGovern who also had a crowd around him. I have to also acknowledge a female comedienne who obviously had not preformed in a church before.
At the entrance to the hall in the lobby I noticed that “Code Pink” was being very helpful also.
I like those Code Pink ladies. I met a whole bunch of them once, but they probably thought I was just a run of the mill nut.
I wish I could tell them, I`m not a run of the mill nut, but a genuine hand forged one.
Goodnight.
I`ll post a few pics in the first comment.
You DO know of course that the person on the left of the bottom picture is George Bush, don’t you? He is either in makeup or he has time-traveled back from the future. Either way, he is definitely there to mess with the opposition.
Be careful, bro’.
They are EVERYWHERE!!!
Especially in Venice!!!
AG
Mr. Gilroy,
That must explain the grey powder that covered my facial hair. It was his make-up.
If onjly I could grow facial hair like that. Alas …
Hey Steve,
It happened quite suddenly, actually.
More than 40 years ago.
I’m glad you made it. They are both great guys. And you don’t want to mess with them.
kewl! Glad you got to go and see them both. I know you will never forget the experience. hugs
Brenda [same last name as me]
Yes it was actually very cool to go to this meeting. There was quite a mix of people & if you know how Venice is, it was a MIXED crowd.
Hi Knucklehead. My husband and I were at the church yesterday evening as well. Thank you for sharing your report of the event.
First, Ian Masters has two hours of public affairs on Sundays from 11-1 on Pacifica station KPFK, 90.7FM. As he mentioned, he has had both McGovern and Johnson as guests (I would say McGovern more frequently than Johnson). If you live in Southern California and you’re not familiar with the program, try listening sometime.
Second, the “conspiracy crowd” comes more from a cadre of KPFK listeners rather than Venice residents, and has as much to do with radio station politics as with 9-11 itself. Since Ian Masters regularly excoriates that crowd on the air, a few usually show up to vent their views. (A co-sponsor of the event was Office of the Americas and the director also has a program on KPFK.) In addition, McGovern has appeared with David Ray Griffin which would add fuel to the “conspiracy crowd”.
Another lady got up & sorta tried to maybe imply that since they were both CIA insiders tthat they had some kind of agenda that they were involved with at this very moment to pull more wool over “OUR” eyes.
I had a different view of her questions. I thought she was asking who were the authors and beneficiaries of the “charade” (Pilger’s characterization in his question to McGovern in the video). I think her quote was “it can’t all be for Halliburton”.
I was disappointed in the turn out for the event. There have been times when people have been standing in the back and sitting in the aisles – the appearances of Scott Ritter and Fernando Suarez del Solar for two examples. Perhaps the KPFK fund drive didn’t allow for enough publicity of the event.
Thank you for the input. I was wondering who you were, as I saw your username on the annoucement here. I wasn`t putting Venice down & I don`t mean to imply you did. Personally I love Venice & it`s history of activism. I very possibley did not understand her theme , but given I was around some people who I thought were rude, just a few missed words can change the whole premise. I had just spent the day in Venice on “Electric” ave, & on “Palm”.
After talking about the Haliburtons of religion, the Haliburtons of Israel, the Haliburtons of special interests & yes the Haliburtons of oil, I took it to mean it the way I mentioned, seeing as McGovern & Johnson had already mentioned much more than “Just Haliburton” in the talk up to that point.
As a matter of fact, I was telling my wife last night on the way home, that I hope “Venice” chimes in so I could see the meeting through other eyes.
I liked when Mr. McGovern stepped over to get the glasses that someone lent him in Crawford when he was there with Cindy Shehan.
He talked about the metaphore of seeing things through other people eyes, or glasses in this case.
I also appreciate that you were able to explain the relationship between the different camps regarding 911 & the radio station.
When I talked about a very Mixed crowd as was present especially because it was in Venice, I meant that as a very positive thing. I don`t think the same speakers, in a different place, like a farming community in a very red area, & of very like minded people would be as effective as one with such a diversity of people. I`ll compare it to people from southern California, seeing a show on TV where we know the streets & geography, laugh at the lack of continuity of the show as a character goes from one scene to another with three lines but actually we know he`s already miles away because we know the geography here.
Many people might have no clue about what Venice is about , so it was a way to express the diversity.
Nice meeting you. And hey , YEAH VENICE.
I`ll be back in Venice tomorrow doing a photoshoot.
I hope I didn’t sound defensive, because I knew what you meant — except for those guys who follow Ian Masters around, disrupt call-in shows on KPFK, etc.
I was impressed by how well McGovern and Johnson handled the shouters. I suspect their calm kept Masters from spouting off, which only makes the situation worse.
I think the woman’s question was open to interpretation, so your view could be correct. She certainly was indirect and talked around the issue.
We live near Palms, and use Electric as a walking alternate route to the more car-filled Abbott Kinney Blvd. As you may know, Electric Avenue takes its name from the the old street car line that used to connect LA to the beaches. There are some beautiful Craftsman homes on and around Electric Avenue from when Venice was “Venice of America”.
My friend Jay Griffen has some properties in that very area. I`ve been on some of his walking tours of the gardens of Venice..
He does the garden tour as a charity event for children. The house I go to in Venice on Palm is the one with the stripped “Onion” dome on it.
You may know Neil who owns the place. I also spent time on the “canals” in past years working for Mohamed Ali`s wife & know [knew] the girls well. Laila, now a boxer & her older sister, were a handful. Veronica, the mom, was a classic beauty & I would call her a nice friend.
The houses in Venice are actually amazing & the pride their occupants take in them, will assure that they remain for years to come. Here`s a link to the garden tour gallery archives. You may be in it.
For anybody wishing to see what a wonserful place Venice is, it`s worth a look/see.
http://www.venicegardentour.org/gallery.html
Thanks for the link. Yes, our home was on the garden tour this year. With a Mediterranean marine climate, there are lots of choices for our gardens. And I am familiar with the domed house on Palms. I have stopped many times to peer into their garden.
Nice talking with you, Knucklehead.
I`ll be there tomorrow after 9:30 AM. You can just give a shout or just walk on in. It`s a friend friendly zone.
It`s great that you were on the garden tour. Just think, I may already have been to your house.
Thanks for the invite, but at that time of day I’m in cubicle-land — the curse of the working class.
Enjoy your day and have a good photo shoot.