Posted on 01/15/2005 3:09:37 PM PST by Chummy
They will leave from Green Bay, Milwaukee and Madison, and they will travel all night. When they arrive Thursday morning, they will participate in a nationwide effort to send a message to the president, who will be inaugurated for his second term that day.
The protesters will line Bush's parade route, with no signs and no clothes that distinguish them from the general public. When the motorcade drives by, they will turn their backs.
"We're just going there as people, and at the given cues, we're going to turn our backs. It'll be pretty quiet like that," said Anita Singh, a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and one of the organizers.
The "Turn Your Back on Bush" project was designed to outsmart security personnel who have kept protesters away from high-profile events. Singh said the spoken cue is being kept secret for now, because it appears there may be supporters of the president trying to infiltrate their ranks.
"It is kind of weird. People will be going there to dissuade protesters, turn them in the wrong direction, get them away from the inauguration," Singh said. But their fears of people making a scene are unfounded, she said. "We're trying to avoid any sort of conflict."
With many students still away from Madison, it is impossible to know how many people will participate and how many buses will be needed, Singh said.
Bus tickets are still available for $90 at three locations in Madison: A Room of One's Own, 307 W. Johnson St.; the Rainbow Bookstore Collective, 426 W. Gilman St.; and the Madison Info Shop, 1019 Williamson St.
Ron Kossik of Manitowoc said he expects 30 people will take the "Lakeshore Bus," picking protesters up in Green Bay, Manitowoc, Sheboygan, Milwaukee and Racine.
And Tracey Sperko of Milwaukee said she's got a separate busload coming from that city. Other protesters, especially those planning to stay longer in Washington, will be carpooling, she said. Bus tickets from Milwaukee are available from Atomic Records, 1813 E. Locust St.
"I know it won't change anything, but what I've found is that it gives hope to a lot of people that we're not just a forgotten 49 percent. That we can stand up for ourselves, we can represent ourselves. We're still part of this country," said Sperko, a veteran of the Persian Gulf War. She was state director of Veterans for Kerry. "Some people have rolled our shades up, but for some of us, it's making us feel better to just stand up."
There may be some scholarship funds for people who cannot afford the entire price. The Madison delegation will depart from the Wisconsin Memorial Union at 5 p.m. Wednesday, and will return Friday afternoon.
There will be organized protests, but people with a bus ticket are free to do as they please while in Washington, Singh said.
I might cry.
"We're just going there as people"...are they normally somehow elevated?
I suppose the appropriate response for onlookers would be "Look at all the a**es!"
The ill dressed, pungent, slack jawed, vacant eyed DU losers will stand out like sore festered thumbs.
I wouldn't go that far.
Sounds like a humdinger of a protest. Just show the world what a backside you are, and then the ??-hour trip back to Wisconsin. Wish we had thought of that!
Dungheap Harkin, Scuba-diver Kennedy, Barney (eats) Frank and their pals make a pit stop on their bus trip to nowhere.
14 hours each way riding a stinking, cold bus = $90
Sharing a DC hotel room for two nights with 7 strangers = $60
Box lunch = $8
Standing backwards like a miserable, angry, invisible idiot for 12 seconds while surrounded by cheering happy people enjoy life = Priceless
" The President won't see them or care what they do." Absolutely!
Yes, but it's vitally important that they protest, because they're the forgotten ones, the 49 percent, sniff, sniff,
(She posted, laughing uproariously...)
The tires were slashed in Milwaukee. Not a big difference to those outside Wisconsin, but The People's Republic of Madison is the pits to anyone from Wisconsin.
"The tires were slashed in Milwaukee. Not a big difference to those outside Wisconsin, but The People's Republic of Madison is the pits to anyone from Wisconsin."
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Well, I'm originally from WI. My recollection of Milwaukee is of a dirty town, while Madison was rather pretty. Just my $.02.
My post had nothing to do with beauty contests between Milwaukee and Madistan. Milwaukee simply IS where the tires were slashed on election day.
FWIW,The People's Republic of Madison is and has been filled with left wing nuts since at least the early 1960's. As they say, beauty is only skin deep.
Yah, that's right. That'll really show ol' Dubya what they think of him, and doncha know, George will capitulate right away, resign from office, and declare he shouldn't have stolen the election from that pious and righteous Senator Kerry. Right away, give back those 60,000 votes stolen in Ohio, yah, that's the ticket. (/sarcasm)
Naw, it's been longer ago than that. Bob LaFollette Jr. was a Progressive "Republican" that drew a lot of his power from Madison and the UW-Madison back in the 1920's and through the Depression, while he was in the Senate, stoking the New Deal for the Democrats and FDR when the Democrats weren't going for it. Bob LaFollette was defeated in the Senate race of 1946 by Joe McCarthy. A fact that was not forgotten by the entrenched liberals at the University.
"My post had nothing to do with beauty contests between Milwaukee and Madistan. "
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Neither did mine. I already said it was just my two cents worth.
If you are on the parade route, if one of them turns toward you in a treatening manner, pepper spray 'em!
See what happens when the Packers lose in the playoffs?
Actually its probably a lot of union state employees who have off Monday for MLK day.
Sounds like an entrepreneur's dream come true! If I had a chauffeur's license I'm sure I could rent a bus and charge $80 and still make a great profit for those 2 days........
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