Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 9. september
2005 / Timeline September 9, 2005
Version 3.5
8. September 2005, 10. September 2005
09/09/2005
Physician who told Cheney to go F*ck Himself Lost his Home in
Katrina, Detained, Cuffed by Cheney's M-16-carrying Goons
by Jackson Thoreau
Dr. Ben Marble, a young emergency room physician who plays in
alternative rock bands and does art on the side, needs our help.
Since he was the one who told Dick Cheney to "go fuck yourself" on
Sept. 8, that's the least we can do.
Marble is a complex guy, to say the least. Some of the lyrics he
writes can be considered harsh by some – personally what I've
heard is very much on target - but he has a softer side as an
organizer of breast cancer fund-raisers, not to mention an ER
doctor.
When he, like thousands of others, lost his home due to Hurricane
Katrina last week, it was the single most traumatic week of his
life. That led to his Sept. 8 confrontation with the man who best
represents the worst of the most callous, heartless, shittiest
administration in U.S. history.
As Marble explains, he was driving to his destroyed house Sept. 8
in Gulfport, Ms., when military police refused to allow him to
cross a barricade that was about 200 feet from his home. They
forced him to drive an extra 20 minutes and spend even more on
gasoline.
"Thanks to Dubya Gump and Mr. Cheney, gas is really expensive and
extremely hard to get anywhere Katrina has destroyed," Marble
wrote. "So needless to say, I was extremely aggravated that they
wouldn't let me pass."
Suddenly a long line of dark cars pulled up, and they honked at
Marble to back up to let them through the barricade that supposedly
no one could drive through. That only made Marble madder so he did
what most of us would do – or at least consider doing.
"I waved a middle finger at the caravan," Marble wrote.
After driving the extra 20 minutes and filming video of destruction
along the way, he made it to his home. Marble overheard a neighbor
say that Cheney was down the street talking to people. That's when
he got the idea to go meet Dr. Evil himself.
"I am no fan of Mr. Cheney because of several reasons," Marble
wrote. "For those who don't know, Mr. Cheney is infamous for
telling Senator [Pat] Leahy 'go fu** yourself' on the Senate floor.
Also, I am not happy about the fact that thousands have died due to
the slow action of FEMA, not to even mention the wrong war in the
wrong place at the wrong time, i.e. Iraq."
So Marble, who was wearing an old Mr. T "I Pity Da Fool" t-shirt
since he was sifting through the wreckage, asked a couple of police
officers if he and a friend could walk down to Cheney. They told
him Cheney was "looking forward” to talking to “the
locals.”
"So we grabbed my Canon digital rebel and my Sony videocamera and
started walking down the street," Marble wrote. "And then right in
front of the destroyed tennis court I used to play on Dick Cheney
was giving a pep rally, talking to the press. The Secret Service
guys patted us down and waved the wands over us, and then let us
pass."
As he stood about 10 feet away from Cheney and his friend and some
camera operators from CNN and other media filmed the scene, Marble
suddenly yelled, "Go fuck yourself, Mr. Cheney! Go fuck yourself,
you asshole!"
Hey, at least Marble was polite. After all, he referred to Cheney
as “Mr. Cheney.”
"I had no intention of harming anyone but merely wanted to echo Mr.
Cheney's infamous words back at him," Marble wrote. "At that
moment, I noticed the Secret Service guys with a panic-stricken
look on their faces, like they were about to tackle me, so I calmly
walked away back to my former house."
His friend videotaped a little bit longer and then came back to
Marble’s house. As they were salvaging a few things from
Marble's home, two military police waving M-16's showed up and said
they were looking for someone who fit Marble's description who had
cursed at Cheney.
"I told them I was probably the person they were looking for, and
so they put me in handcuffs and 'detained' me for about 20 minutes
or so," Marble wrote. "My right thumb went numb because the cuffs
were on so tight, but they were fairly courteous and eventually
released me after getting all my contact info. They said I had NOT
broken any laws so I was free to go."
So let’s get this straight: A physician with a newborn baby
loses most everything he owns in the hurricane, does what most of
us WANT to do and “echoes” Cheney’s words he
spoke on the Senate floor last year, walks away harmlessly, mission
accomplished, and then once the media cameras leave, he is treated
like a foreign terrorist as Cheney’s goons waving M-16s
handcuff him in front of his destroyed home? Had it not been for
the media cameras filming the initial scene, I doubt Cheney’s
goons would have just let Marble go after 20 minutes.
America, land of the free?
Marble and his family have been in the media spotlight before,
including his wife, Lisa, and baby, Sofia Grace, who was born
shortly after the storm, on CNN. Marble has also been interviewed
in art magazines and the Biloxi Sun Herald about his concert
fund-raisers and musical success — one of his bands, dR. O,
has had at least 20 No. 1 songs on the MP3.com charts.
"The truth is even with all our losses, we are still luckier than
many people down here because at least we didn't die," Marble
wrote. "But I thought I could try to raise some awareness to the
bad policies of the Dubya Gump administration and also possibly
raise some money to replace the many things we lost, and so I
decided I would auction the videotape my friend shot of the event.
I will also grant an interview to the winner if so desired."
So go to eBay here and place a bid for this important video to help
Marble raise some needed funds. I have done so and was at least at
one time the high bidder.
Marble also has an Internet site with photographs of some damage in
his town at www.HurricaneKatrinaSucked.com. A photo of him is here,
and you can also email Marble at clone9@yahoo.com.
Dr. Ben Marble, you rock. May we all return the favor.
UPDATE: Late Friday, Sept. 9, and again on Sept. 10 and Sept. 11,
eBay, which is owned by strong Bush-Cheney supporters, took down
Marble's site.
Marble said it was because he didn’t bleep out the first
“fu” of “fuck,” which he said in an email
to me was “pretty silly.” I think it’s a bunch of
BS – I did some searches on eBay of profanity they allow that
is not even partially bleeped out and found more than 1,250 items
on there with the word "bitch,” more than 400 items on there
with the word "bastard,” more than 60 “go to
hell” phrases and even two “goddamned son of a
bitch” items. Yet, they say they won't even allow
"f***.” That’s fu****. If you want to complain to an
eBay bigwig, email meg@ebay.com.
Anyway Marble's forum is up for the fourth time on eBay here. His
second auction was over $1,900 at one time. He is also considering
auctioning off some of his paintings.
Donate to help Ben Marble, the physician who lost his home in
Katrina and told off Cheney Ebay has pulled the auction twice, so
we’d like to do more to help the man a lot of our readers are
calling a hero.
Another article about Ben Marble
Get to Know Ben Marble, an Interview with the Guy Who Told Dick
Cheney to Go Fuc* Himself.
www.geocities
Jackson Thoreau is a Washington, D.C.-area journalist/writer. The
latest book to which he contributed, Big Bush Lies, was published
by RiverWood Books of Ashland, Ore. He is working on another book
called "Thou Shalt Not Cheat: How Bush and Rove Broke the Rules,
From the Sandlot to the White House." He can be contacted at
jacksonthor@gmail.com.
09/09/2005
Top
Send
kommentar, email
eller søg i Fredsakademiet.dk
|