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Louisiana State University Protests Cheney Visit

By Ward Reilly

Vice President (and chief US war criminal) "Little Dick" Cheney was greeted "warmly" (but only because of the ninety-eight-degree temperature) at Louisiana State University on Friday, May 26, 2006 by angry military veterans, students, citizens, and professors when he showed up in his very well-armored limousine to speak to LSU graduates.

Thousands of faculty members and students refused to stand or applaud during Cheney's speech, in which he stated that "America is winning the war on terror." He also mentioned LSU's national championship in football. (Uh, Dick? That was three years ago.) He rambled on and on about what a great job the administration did during Katrina and how the Gulf Coast could count on him to "be there" for us.

Members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Veterans For Peace, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and several other organizations attended the demonstration at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in support of students, who thought that the university could have found a better speaker, considering the amazingly great job the administration did during Hurricane Katrina here in south Louisiana.

With an 18% approval rating, we are sure it was really hard to book "Little Dick" as a speaker. (Not!) Coincidentally, Cheney spoke in the same building that was used as the Katrina triage center after the disaster—another huge chunk of irony.

Some students showed up to receive their diplomas while wearing hunters' orange vests, and I handed out hundreds of pins that said "Jail Bush and Cheney" and "Make Levees, Not War."