August 31, 2006
What is wrong with these people?
War opponents beat up a national guardsman in Pierce County: National Guardsman Brutally Attacked In Pierce County
The driver then got out of the vehicle, displayed a gun and shouted insults at the victim. Four other suspects exited the vehicle and knocked the soldier down, punching and kicking him.
"And during the assault the suspects called him a baby killer. At that point they got into the car and drove off and left him on the side of the road," Detective Ed Troyer with the Pierce County Sheriff's Department told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News.
UPDATE: Reader Katomar's brother-in-law is an officer in the Guard and sends along this address where you can post cards and letters of support for the soldier who was beaten:
SPC Powell
c/o DCSPER
Building 15
Camp Murray
Tacoma, WA 98430
Posted by Andy MacDonald at August 31, 2006
10:01 AM | Email This
1. This is how the liberal left sends a message of peace and tollerance.
2. Kudos to KIRO for covering this. And shame on the local print media for burying the story because it doesn't fit their political agenda.
3. The funny part is that these guys are actually biting the hand that feeds Pierce County: the military and its effect on the local economy. Without Ft. Lewis, Mcchord and othe military-related entities, Pierce County would be in a world of hurt.
4. Well, that is just plain disgusting.
5. I doubt very much these criminals were local. It doesn't make sense 5 guys would snap at the same time today and go seek out a soldier to beat up. This was a planned event.
6. The more I think about this the more I wonder about a couple odd things in this story. The perpetrators were driving an SUV, and one of them brandished a handgun. Doesn't exactly fit my image of lefty anti-war types. Makes me wonder if they were just a bunch of good 'ol boys that'd maybe had a few at a local tavern.
7. Once caught, these perpetrators should be left in a remote location surrounded by 25 soldiers (5:1 based on their actions against the guardsman). B*st*rds!!
8. Tick. Tock.
9. One thing I noticed is they never mentioned the victim was black which is what I heard about 5:50 this morning on the radio. Because it does not come off as a racially driven act but a anti war act. But if some racial slurs were shouted it would be all over the news and front page on the local papers. I just love how biased our local media is.
Sincerely,
James D. Schandel
10. Any bets on this being prosecuted as a Hate Crime in this state? I think not.
11. Regardless of who actually committed this crime or their political views, this will play very nicely to Pierce County Conservatives.
This dovetails with the antiwar, Ehren Watada sentiment frequently espoused by the antiwar left. It also dovetails with the lies told by Jesse Macbeth.
I hope the left keeps spewing and associating itself with hatred. This is the same kind of hatred we see from radical Islam and it all means more votes for conservatives in November.
12. Tick Tock is right........... Won't be long now and someone who sees this kind of stuff will actually respond instead of being a woosey by stander and it will hit the fan. I refuse to believe no one saw what was going on. I do find it very interesting the wording, in another time, it would have been all about the color of the victims skin, its too bad we can't chalk it up to just reporting the news but commenters are right, the agenda right now is making sure people stay negative about the war.
13. Tick Tock is right........... Won't be long now and someone who sees this kind of stuff will actually respond instead of being a woosey by stander and it will hit the fan. I refuse to believe no one saw what was going on. I do find it very interesting the wording, in another time, it would have been all about the color of the victims skin, its too bad we can't chalk it up to just reporting the news but commenters are right, the agenda right now is making sure people stay negative about the war.
14. They may want to start the search for suspects at Pierce County Democratic Party Headquarters.
15. Can anyone tell me how this can possibly motivate any political agenda? I can't figure it out?
16. 1) The "Loving Left" strikes again. How tolerant.
2) I wish I could find that Guardsmam and give him a great big hug and tell him that there are SO MANY more of us out here that admire him than revile him.
3) And finally, IT'S ALMOST A GIVEN that THOSE THUGS WHO CALLED HIM BABYKILLER ARE FOR ABORTION!!!!
4) PS--They're probably voting for Cantwell.
17. It looks like the "doves" are turning into Hitchcock Birds. So finally we see the true character of those who constantly harp that we must have a dialogue with the terorrists, talk with them, find out what it is we're doing to make them angry with us, ad nauseum. As far as I'm concerned, this little group of five absolute idiots are terrorists, too, not only spewing their liberal hate, but dishing out violence to go with it. So much for the party of inclusion and tolerance. That's a lie that's been perpetrated for years. As far as they're concerned, anyone who doesn't agree with them gets what they deserve.
18. Get and read a copy of the Shadow Party if you still harbor illusions of the left being well intentioned. They are NOT and have never been anything but shameless hypocrits & exploiters and this book really lays it all out.
19. "Liberalism is a mental disorder" - Michael Savage
Doesn't that just about sum it up?
20. Burdabee at 7--yup--ever see the movie "Naked Prey?" and posts 10+11 are right on--
my wish as i rub my genie lamp is SOMEONE--ANYONE--in this 'carry state'--for once--HELPS a victim;
and my solution: called the "good packing Samaritan law"--that allows without unusual persecution citizens to prevent lethal situ's by 'getting involved' with their 'metal;'
fair is fair--if you fear a 'Dodge City,' then how different is fearing that from tolerating an 'Anarchy City' where Grardsmen (or anyone) can be beaten just for sport?
21. What's wrong with them is that they are modern leftists, which is to say they are Stalinists.
Elitist hate-mongering is the latest (out)rage, considering their history over the last 35 years nobody should be surprised by this, except that it hadn't happened sooner.....
22. I don't know if this Guardsman is in the hospital or what, but it would be great if we could get an address and shower him with cards of well-wishes, wouldn't it?
23. Michele: My thoughts exactly. My borther-in-law is an officer in the Guards here. Will call this afternoon and see if he can give us that info. Will let you all know.
24. I blame the leftist agitators like Kos and Goldy. It's people like these Extreme left Progressives that sell enough irrationality, profanity and hatred on their blogs as to incite the fringe to violent behavior. Deb Frisch could not exist if it were not for enablers like Kos and Goldy.
I don't think that Kos or Goldy would ever condone this behavior or participate in it themselves, but it's their tolerance of really radical, angry, hateful voices in their blog comment threads that allows negative energy to congreagate and foment. Not too unlike the Middle Eastern mosques.
Today's hateful irrational left. There are plenty of examples. Just go peruse the web.
25. The KIRO-TV link has been updated at least once, but does not state the extent of the Guardsman's injuries, nor his current status. I pray for a quick recovery for him and brutal justice for the cowards that ganged up on him...
26. Jeff,
Careful. You're starting down a parallel path to a certain former governor of Arkansas, who blamed talk radio for stirring up right-wing hatred, which he said was to blame for Timmy McVeigh blowing up the OKC federal building.
People are responsible for their own actions.
Find 'em. Convict 'em. Make 'em break rocks for 15 years.
27. Got it!
Cards of support can be addressed as follows:
SPC Powell
c/o DCSPER
Building 15
Camp Murray
Tacoma, WA 98430
28. Thanks katomar. I've added the address to the main entry as an update.
29. and my solution: called the "good packing Samaritan law"--that allows without unusual persecution citizens to prevent lethal situ's by 'getting involved' with their 'metal;'
Jimmie, it's already on the books...
RCW 9A.16.020 subsection (3)-- Legal use of force:
(3) Whenever used by a party about to be injured, or by another lawfully aiding him or her, in preventing or attempting to prevent an offense against his or her person, or a malicious trespass, or other malicious interference with real or personal property lawfully in his or her possession, in case the force is not more than is necessary;
RCW 9A.16.050-- Homicide-- By other person-- When justifiable:
Homicide is also justifiable when committed either:
(1) In the lawful defense of the slayer, or his or her husband, wife, parent, child, brother, or sister, or of any other person in his presence or company, when there is reasonable ground to apprehend a design on the part of the person slain to commit a felony or to do some great personal injury to the slayer or to any such person, and there is imminent danger of such design being accomplished; or
(2) In the actual resistance of an attempt to commit a felony upon the slayer, in his presence, or upon or in a dwelling, or other place of abode, in which he is
30. What a cowerdly, disgusting and reprehensible crime! I hope these criminals will be quickly apprehended. But...
They got out of an SUV and had a gun?
They called the national guard member "baby killer," a term so retro only aging hippies even remember it?
They had short hair, wore red baseball caps?
I have a gut feeling that this was not a "war protest" and that the assailents aren't "liberals."
31. Sstar, I have the same suspicions at #6.
I just heard John Carlson say he was going to address this topic at the 5:00 hour.
32. I have the same suspicion that this may have been racially motivated. Pretty clever of the thugs, had they uttered racial epithets there would have been protests, marches and demands for justice. The MSM would have been in high dudgeon. Sputtering talking heads would demand investigations, etc. Instead, because the "motivation" is hatred of the war, the response from most of the MSM is a collective yawn.
katomar, thanks for the info.
33. Left Wing News Bias
I was watching KIRO-TV at 5:30 when they showed a segement with an alleged "witness". The witness claimed that it was 3 military people that got out of the van and beat up a civilian. KIRO-TV then stated that Powell's story was suspect. Ridiculous, I wrote KIRO-TV right after the segement and told them it was ridiculous and pure anti-military hate mongering. If it was a civilian that was beat up, where is the civilian? And why is Powell in the hospital. At the 6:30 showing of the news, the modified the segement by saying that the witness statements are suspect, but still challenging Powell's version and stating that Powell doesn't want to talk, but they left out one key element... the National Guard told Powell not to talk to the media. This is either media bias or very poor "journalism."
34. Those who choose to physically attack G.I.'s in areas where there are a large number of G.I.'s better do their homework first. They need to read up on the Zoot Suit riots in Southern California and what happened to those nattily dressed lads and their compatriots. Aged Zoot Suiter's are still moaning about that as they play the roles of victims.
35. There's something fishy about this story. The witness, a clerk at the store, has told police and the news media conflicting stories about the incident, three different versions in fact. The Guardsman did not seek medical treatment and told his story to TV's Ch. 13 before reporting it to the police. It might be wise to wait till the dust settles on this one. And the print media did not ignore the story; it appeared on the front page of the local section of the TNT.
36. They are skinheads. That should make them much easier to find. There should be an all out bi partisian assault on these creeps.
37. Don't anybody go nuts on me...but is it possible that this Guardsman was about to be deployed and doesn't want to go to Iraq and this was a good way to get out of it? I must say that the story seems a bit odd to me - a busy street in the middle of the day only a short distance from several military installations doesn't really seem like a good place to attack someone and not have dozens of witnesses. There was also a story on the news tonight about the amount of gang activity at Ft. Lewis and how the Cmd of the base is downplaying the problem. Could this be a gang issue or was there more going on than what the young man has told to police?
38. I'll admit that at first I assumed some "enlightened progressives" were behind this attack. But the short hair, multiple assailants all dressed in red sweatshirts...kinda sounds like gangsta wannabees to me. I think it's time to invoke the 48-Hour Rule on this story.
39. This wasn't on the 10:00 KONG-TV news.
By the way, the TNT article said that it happened at 8:30am. The KIRO-TV report said it happened Tuesday afternoon. And an article titled "Witness Claims Guardsman Attack Not What It Seems" is now unavailable. The media, inept as usual...
40. Ricky,
That's pretty smart. How many radical leftists in their 20s drive SUV's while armed?
41. -War opponents beat up a national guardsman in Pierce County-
Since only 33% of the population seems to support Bush's handling the war currently, I suppose we will be seeing a lot more "war opponent" white guys with handguns and SUV's beating up black guardsmen in military communities?
Talk about anti-anti-war hysterics.
42. I agree benjamin - as cowardly as most liberals are, this just doesn't pass the sniff test. Unless they aren't liberal "war opponent" white guys, but just your average liberal losers. I just can't see them taking on a uniformed serviceman unless their numbers were at least 8-1.
Now you can get back to your regularly scheduled anti-war hysterics.
43. This really needs to get to FOX news like Hannitt or something.
Is their any way to do that?
44. Everyone, go get a Concealed Weapons Permit, take a safety course and a combat handgun course, which includes use of force guidelines and training.
Then carry faithfully, and be prepared to act.
In 25 years of carry I've never drawn, but have twice "displayed" I was carrying. Both times in a store late when some suspicions types came in, I would make sure they got a glimpse of what I was carrying, both times they immediately left.
45. JCM - How does one go about this? Where, when etc?
46. PBJ,
First thing you need to do is go your county sheriff's office - not sure about municiple police stations - and apply for your permit. Take a checkbook or credit card. Opt to pay an extra buck or so to get it laminated. You'll receive it in the mail a week or so later.
Then, go to a local gun store - not only to survey your potential purchase - but the owner/staff typically know of area ranges, times/schedules of gun-safety courses - male and female - and other self-defense items of interest.
47. bill@6........don't be so sure that they couldn't be lefties. PROGRESSIVE lefties....which only means they are getting progressively more dangerous and annoying.
i can prove my point. just the other day i was on the phone with my oldest friend. she is as left as you can get [yes...she's dumb as dirt...but what can you do?] when i hear a honking sound. [she was driving and talking on her cell phone natch] when i asked her about it she said she was "showing support to the protestors in san fran that were opposing "the illegal war"......
so ,although i do know what she drives i just had to ask. honey, are you in the BMW or the big black tricked out suburban? she said suburban. so i then HAD to ask "what did their signs say?" [see...i told you she was as dumb as dirt...she knows me...and yet, she still answers...heh heh] and several of the signs said "no war for oil"
i just about died laughing.
i had to point out to her that maybe ,just maybe, she is the biggest hypocrite on the planet.....you think?
she said "no" she HAD to be driving something after all.
it just doesn't get any more illuminating than this does it?
48. Great story. Al Gore has your friend beat in the hypocrite department, but not by much. I'd love to be able to sentence the whole "no war for oil" crowd to a year of relying on nothing but public transit.
Maybe you're right too about the alleged perpetrators of this beating...could be they were just inspired by their heroes, Che, and Castro.
49. TB...find'em, convict'em, revolk their citizenship, and give them a one way ticket to Iraq.
50. Interesting possibility, Suzihomemaker.
51. Don't forget John Kerry and Howard Dean both have SUVs and have short haircuts.
52. 51: And also don't forget that when they go home at night, their fat pyschopathic wives thrash them within inches of their lives...
53. count 1 get well note sent to the ailing Soldier--God Bless him;
and for the perps, well..."shick-chick" (says me 12-ga)
54. Yes, "what's wrong with these people" who would put our soliders who were prepared to give their lives for our country on death row. I love your fake shock and horror when a little event like this might be turned into your political benefit, while you have no problem executing these same soliders when it's their actions appear to hurt you politically. -- November can't come soon enough :-)
55. And just how many have been executed liberal~john? As usual you are talking out of your kazoo.
56. So far none have been executed, the death penalty is what is recommended as the case proceeds to trial. A Republican congressman had to apologize for insulting them or face a liabel lawsuit. They are only facing the death penalty at this time - meanwhile the Republicans are losing the military vote over this issue and general incompetence. The word I hear in the military crowd is they are very pissed at Bush.
You folks have no idea how this issue is destroying the party and your credibility on the war on "terror". Why would any American youngster join the military when they will get backstabbed, thrown in prision, face the death penalty by the commander-in-chief and his political party, for doing their job? Remember these guys are 18- 19- 20 years with no criminal history, who just a year or so ago were graduating from high school. Mr. Bush and the Republicans would rather fight them then terrorist. YOU CAN'T TRUST REPULBICANS IN THE WAR ON TERROR.
57. The word that
I hear in the military crowd is that people like you should be taken out into the street and beaten for telling such outright lies and distortions.
Your constant shilling for the Dhimmicrats and backstabbing or the party you allegedly once supported disgusts more than just me.
You are a fraud and a phony and if you have one iota of integrity you would be ashamed. Instead you revel in your deliberate misconceptions.
liberal~john, you are a piece of shiite!
58. when/if (hope not) Liberal John has his ladyfriend, kid, Mom, relative or Grandma attacked, or if any robbed, he will become the most fire-breathing, revenge-seeking victim around, yelling "perp's head on a pike!" and "spare no torture!"
I've seen this phenomenon many times; altruistic lib views colliding with reality; seems like liberals change dramatically when THEY are ripped off, their small businesses are affected by silly liberal micromanaging & diversity laws or they pesonally feel the bite of the liberal social costs THEY championed in their other breath;
59. Yeah the same with those stupid MAKE LOVE NOT WAR or MAKE FREINDS NOT ENEMIES bumper stickers on the cars or maybe they have one of those even more stupider WHAT IF THE SCHOOLS HAD ALL THE MONEY THEY NEED AND THE AIRFORCE WOULD HAVE TO HOLD BAKE SALES IN ORDER TO MAKE MONEY TO BUY BOMBERS Frankly if they ever catch these lowlife reptiles they should turn them over to a military tribunal and let themselves get the crap beat out of them
60. This story sounds so bogus, I can't believe y'all are ready to lock and load over it. First of all, nobody has used the term "baby killer" since the Vietnam war, and I can't see a bunch of 20 somethings screaming that. I agree with Suzihomemaker and Maximus, this doesn't pass the sniff test. Sounds like an altercation that could have erupted from some sort of road rage, or confrontation, etc., or the guys were skinheads (you know, those flaming liberal skinheads). And John is right: I have a family member in Iraq and two friends, and they think the war is a joke, a lethal joke on them. If y'all are so itching to support this war, go enlist. Walk the walk.
61. Looks like those vicious anti-war skinhead liberals with the handguns and the SUV are still on the loose in Militaryland, Pierce County.
What will the reactionary Sound Politics crew think of next?
Nobody on this entire blog - writers or commentators - have been able to find a single thing going right in Iraq.
So, of course they need to over-react to stories like this one. No evidence involved? A single witness who gave two conflicting stories? No problem!
62. TB...find'em, convict'em, revolk their citizenship, and give them a one way ticket to Iraq.
Change Iraq to Iran, where they are so tolerant about that sort of thing