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Definitely an Atlanta-style freep.
Free Republic sent notice about a planned anti-war rally downtown. I'm kind of new to FR, but a few of us suburban girls decided to do our one last thing for W.
> Three of us plus my 13yr-old arrived at Five Points
about 4:30, a half hour before they were scheduled to start the anti-war demonstration. We saw a strange woman in a hot pink satin dress/costume with an anti-war sign and two guys doing street theater in Bush and Cheney masks. Bush was a puppet on Cheney's strings and they
were throwing a model globe around and acting dorky. The area was dense with people. It's right near Underground Atlanta.

We found a great parking place in a garage overlooking the
intersection, and waited on the third floor watching and filming until we saw friendlies (Freepers, Protest Warriors, Young Republicans...anyone would do...we were out of our element). Finally I saw a conservative
looking guy with a sign -- Tatze - so we joined him.

When we came out the door of the parking garage I was watching the "enemy". At first they didn't know who we were. When they saw the huge Bush-Cheney sign (4 x6) they were SHOCKED. I waved and gave them the peace sign and a smile. The sign I made said "Peace Thru Strength -- Libya heard us." Other signs said, "Pacifists are leaches on democracy" "Sadam only killed his own people. It was none of our business" "Say no to war -- unless a democrat is president"
> >
We set up quietly catty-corner across the intersection of
> > Peachtree and Edgewood Avenue. We were in the heart of enemy territory. HOWEVER, many people gave us the thumbs up
and told us they plan to vote for Bush. (many were black by the way, which kind of surprised and really pleased us).
> >
Georgia State U. students came up and told us they were so glad we were there. They've had to put up with the anti-war
crowd for weeks they said. There were no more than ten anti-war people the entire time, though they seemed to know how to employ the street crowd to seem like more. The street theater guys completely disappeared when we got there.

There was a moonie (shaved head woman banging a tambourine) and a couple in their late 30s (who looked completely normal with their two little boys). The couple seemed to be the ringleaders (Center for Peace and Justice,
a communist-aligned group) They seemed to give instructions to the younger demonstrators. They had handouts with words to chants printed on them, and the two protestors I stood next to (young and dumb and stood on our
side of the street) were making fun of them because they didn't even rhyme. They resumed chanting anyway.

The guy, about 18, told me he was a communist. The girl, same age,looked younger. She told me she was from Ireland and was a Bush supporter before, but it just seemed cool to be doing this now. She was very friendly. The communist
assured me that communists don't kill people any more. They both said we invaded Iraq for the oil.
> > >
> > > The ringleader woman came across the street once to tell them not to talk to me. I said, "what's the matter, afraid your brainwashing doesn't stick?" Her look could have killed. Both kids seemed quieter when she walked
away

About then the protest warriors got there (traffic> (www.protestwarrior.com). They had great signs. At that point the anti-war people got riled because we outnumbered them and they gave some anti-Bush bumper stickers to a
group of intimidating street guys and sent them over to harass us. One of them was displaying his sticker upside down, and we just encouraged him -- we engaged loudly with them -- they were in our faces...no cops around, no media...even the 41 year old pimp and his white girl were talking politics with us. The level of knowledge was...not.
> >
> We engaged many in the crowd, but they stayed cool, even if they disagreed. More than one said, "isn't
> > this a great country?" One young patent attorney told me he didn't think someone like himself deserved a tax cut. I told him if he didn't get used to his money soon he'd be living a life of guilt and wouldn't he rather have
> the money back to give away to the charity of his choice? Did he think it's the role of the govt. to choose for him? We had a great talk, and it seemed he never heard many of my arguments before, though he is 28 years old.
>
The mother/ringleader continued to be absolutely furious
we were there.
> >
Two people picked up Bush signs and demonstrated with us. One was a student, waiting for his bus. The other
> > was former Navy he said...looked just like Lou Gossett and he was VERY outspoken for W. He was called names by some of his brothers and sisters, but stood his ground with great style.> Everything ends up being about
> race in Atlanta, it seems.
> > >
> > > I had a small sign with an arrow that said "Enemy Sympathizer" and stood next to the professed communist for awhile with arrow pointing at him (18 years old, tie-dye shirt,typical liberal. My daughter said, "he had b.o. mom"). At that point, a woman with a backpack walking by said to me, "that sign you have is so un-American" and I said, yes, but I'm just exercising my right to free speech and isn't it great we can do that in America. She said again, "that sign is just horrible" and I said, "yeah, but this guy's a communist and under his preferred government I
wouldn't even be able to hold this sign"....she looked so shocked for a minute, she literally took a step back.

All in all, very fun, very insightful.>

Thank GOD it's still America in Atlanta. Maybe we ARE the city too busy to hate.> >
> > > Peace man.
>