Posted on 01/23/2005 2:43:27 PM PST by BillF
http://community.webshots.com/album/258441536qMMMpP
Here are my photos from the Ball and the Parade!!
bump
Great thread, Bill.
I am getting so fat!
Nice photos.
Is the person in the center of the photo r1988428807 being arrested by two uncover officers? Looks like they are restraining the person in the center.
Maybe it's just friends helping a friend up after he or she took the brown acid? The left is having a flashback, while stuck in a sixties quagmire.
lol
My husband 'zelig' and I did our best to try to join you all in the American Sector just before the parade, but we got stuck way in the back of Checkpoint Charlie and the anarchists far outnumbered us. We were told by the DC police that we had to go to the back of "the line" waiting to go through the security checkpoint (the white tents). Trouble is, you couldn't tell where the line was, never mind where it ended.
The anarchists stood at the back of "the line" in a huge, tight block of hundreds of people, waving signs, chanting, etc. A few stood up on a table or podium, leading the group in chants, getting everyone going... obviously holding a rally. I asked a DC police officer if this was a rally going on, or were these people waiting in line for the security checkpoint. The officer told me they weren't holding a rally (they obviously were), they were "waiting in line". Then he rudely told zelig and I to "move along... no congregating here". We weren't "congregating"... we stopped there for two seconds, trying to gather our thoughts as to make a decision what to do next, check our DC Metro map and to ask the officer the question about what was going on. Geesh!
The anarchists did an effective job blocking off (or appearing to block off) some security checkpoints earlier at the swearing-in ceremonies also: Gold Gate and Green Gate, keeping good Bush-supporting folks out. We had tickets (standing only, way in the back) for the Inaugural and had to enter through the Green Gate, but gave up once we saw the hundreds of people (mostly anarchists) in front of us. We never would've made it through security in time for the ceremony. Fortunately we caught the entire ceremony live on TV in a nearby Hyatt Hotel bar.
We met many disappointed Bush supporters on the streets, in the Hyatt bar and on the Metro who had traveled long distances to attend the Inaugural swearing-in ceremony and/or the parade, tickets in hand. Many of these people had never run into crowds of unwashed leftists like this before, and seemed a bit shocked. Some were elderly or had little children with them. These vile anarchists scared them away from what should have been a joyful event last Thursday.
Anyway I made a few passing remarks to a some anarchists, such as "If you don't like it here, why don't you move?" and "So move to Cuba!" and I "accidently" kicked some guy's anti-Bush sign that he had leaned up against a curb, while he sat on the curb shivering.. LOL.
You guys in the American Sector did a better job with the "skunks" than I did, though. KUDOS to all of you! :-)
Check this out. BillF did a great job on this thread!
Some of the protesters looked waaaay too much like the insurgents in Iraq! Hmmmm, wonder why!
Thanks for the wonderful pictures and links to others! It is almost nearly but not quite hardly like being there! Hope I can make it in person next go-round--in FOUR MORE YEARS!!!!!
It was a pleasure to meet you and your husband again at the W2 Ball.
I am so sorry that your rights and your husband's rights were violated by the anarchists. Through fear and intimidation they blocked people from going.
I'm also sad and mad that the officer was rude. He may have been under great stress, trying to watch the anarchists. That's an explanation, but it doesn't excuse rudeness.
I'm wondering if a complaint to the police is not in order. Not so much about the officers comments as he may have been under great stress. More of a complaint about not controlling the anarchists and figuring out a security gate system that would not take so long or subject decent law-abiding citizens to mixing with the skunks of the left, people who came to protest and disrupt.
Where were you in relation to the rallying anarchists and the crowd trying to get in when the officer accused you of congregating? Was it close to the leftists, were you saying negative things to the anarchists?
Are you sure that they were the anarchists, wearing a striking amount of black clothing and quite a few wearing masks?
About what time was it that you were there at the 7th Street Checkpoint?
Did you see the anarchists throw snowballs at people, sticks or poles at police, kick the Protest Warrior, and get gassed by the police?
Were you there when the police cars swooped in to block anarchists from getting into the crowd, but creating a crush in the crowd from people at the edge suddenly moving out of the way of the police cars.
I don't envy the police as they had some very different challenges that day. Still, if we could think of a better way to handle these situations in the future, it's worth pointing out constructively where improvement is needed.
You look good with the five o' clock shadow.
After reading your post, I think I've been using the term "anarchists" too broadly... I think what we saw on the streets and gathered in those HUGE blocks of humanity at security checkpoints were probably just the old-fashioned, run-of-the-mill "leftists" (anti-Bush, anti-war protestors) rather than anarchists. They had "Bush - Worst President Ever" and other signs, some more vile than that, but I don't remember seeing a big group completely dressed in black clothing as you've described. They may have been there, I don't remember. I mostly remember a pretty mixed group of people, most of them holding some sort of anti-Bush sign.
I muttered a comment or two a couple of times to these leftists, but it was mostly in passing them on the streets. No one may have heard me, for all I know. We witnessed no violence of any kind.
My questions to the one particular police officer were polite. We really just stopped there for a couple of seconds to try to make a decision what to do next, once we saw that familiar huge block of protestors gathered "in line". I think this police officer had probably HAD it by the time we got there, and he didn't look too crazy about standing out in the cold either. Oh well...
I'm wondering if a complaint to the police is not in order. Not so much about the officers comments as he may have been under great stress. More of a complaint about not controlling the anarchists and figuring out a security gate system that would not take so long or subject decent law-abiding citizens to mixing with the skunks of the left, people who came to protest and disrupt.
The security gate "system" was ridiculous, in our opinions, but what do we know about these things. Many Bush supporters whom we met on the Metro, in the streets, etc. who tried to attend the Inaugural activities also complained - some bitterly - that "it wasn't organized very well", etc. I'm not interested in filing any complaint to the police. I understand that - of course - heavy security was necessary. It just seemed to us that the sheer numbers of protestors standing in those blocks (and they seemed to be segregated from the "normal" Bush-supporting crowd) at every gate made it impossible for us to even get to the security tents. We were told we would have to get in line with/in back of the "protestors", and wait to go thru the security checkpoint. Since we were in back of hundreds (thousands?) of people, we could see that this would take hours, so we gave up and took the Metro back to our hotel.
I don't remember exactly what time we were at the 7th (and Penn. Ave.?) checkpoint. I'll check with zelig and let you know sometime tomorrow (Monday). He'll remember.
Our main reason for coming to DC last Wed-Fri was to attend the FR Ball. We're not really all that disappointed that we couldn't get into the Inaugural swearing-in ceremony with our tickets. We arrived near the Capitol probably too late as it was (our hotel was pretty far from DC - we had a long Metro ride in).
I felt really sorry for the people we met who traveled even further than we did (from CT) whose primary objective was to attend the swearing-in ceremony and/or the parade (with tickets in hand), and were pretty much scared away by these leftists/protestors who appeared to block every security gate and weren't able to do so.
My favorite exchange was the following:
In response to my "swim to Cuba" line, he said "why did you come to annoy us today?" The leftist was serious. He and many of his leftist friends truly believe that the world revolves around them. It's all about them.
I said: "Get real. We won. You lost. We're here to celebrate and watch a parade. You are the skunk at the parade." Seeing his discomfort at that characterization, I started referring to all of them as "skunks at the parade."
Only rarely do I debate merits (as opposed to ridiculing) with the leftists, unless it's for a neutral or balanced audience, because it's generally fruitless. Almost all of the leftists, especially those at demonstrations, fall into one of the following groups:
-- Too ignorant or illogical to debate the merits of anything.
-- They live in an alternate universe filled with "facts" that they believe so deeply in as to preclude progress. For example, in their bizarro world, George Bush is corrupt and the UN is not.
I do enjoy laughing at them to their faces. Humor or ridicule is a weapon that can be devastating to its victims.
Many times ridiculing them is quite risky, such as when 13 DC Chapter FReepers demonstrated on the sidewalk as 5 to 10 thousand ANSWER marchers walked by in the street. Probably 5 or 6 hundred of them immediately adjacent us were shouting "shame on you" at us. We shouted it back at them.
Meanwhile, the Black Bloc of 3 hundred or so anarchists at the tail of their human flotsam and jetsam parade were almost up to us when a line of bicycle officers swooped in to form a protective line around us. The police told us that they believed the anarchists were planning to "bust some skulls." (Thank you police.)
The situation waiting at the security checkpoint or gate was great because, for once, our side had the numbers. Not FReepers, but people who were pro-Bush or at least anti-leftist were in the clear majority during the times that I was waiting.
If we could get more FReepers and patriots showing up to counter-protest ANSWER than ANSWER has people in attendance, we could totally destroy the viability of those apologists for Saddam, fans of Stalin and Kim il-Jong.
Unfortunately, many (most?) FReepers are too conservative (referring to tactics, not ideology)to demonstrate. Demonstrating is an in-your-face expression of political belief that is foreign to most conservatives. They often consider protests or demonstrations undignified, rude, or intemperate. Sometimes demonstrations are indeed undignified, rude, or intemperate, but I think we do a good job of avoiding those pitfalls.
BTTT!!!!!!
The intersection has four "segments", if you will. South 7th, North 7th, East D and West D. The security checkpoint was at South D. I saw the anarchist flags and the snowballs flying from West D. Most pedestrian traffic was coming from the direction of the capitol, East D. The motorcycle cops came in from North 7th. My wife and I were square in the middle of the intersection and had to get our of the way of the first police car to arrive.
I could see over the tops of the heads of the crowd and it wasn't only snowballs that the anarchists were throwing - I saw one of those metal crowd barriers upended, as well as broken pieces of PVC piping that was jagged on one end being thrown.
My wife and I decided that the crowd was too large to get through the checkpoint (it was around 1:30 or so) so we headed up North 7th to E street, where we came across a couple of dozen police donning their riot gear. It was at that point that we decided to head back to our hotel.
This one incident demonstrates so clearly why we must continue with the counter-protest mission.
Thanks, Race. You look like you had a great time the whole day! I have the best photo of you that I've ever taken of an enthusiastic FReeper. I will try and post them in the next few days.
I was afraid of that...(groan)...
Great reports & pics. Thanks!
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