Action Reports - Howell and Lansing Michigan - Mar 15

my eyes | 3-15-03 | Dan from MI

[Dan from Michigan]

Well, I put on my Wings jersey and took my flag and "French Rifles, never fired - dropped once" sign, and drove my assault SUV to Howell early this morning since the pieceniks planned on having a rally at 10AM so they can pressure our good congressman Mike Rogers in his home base(which they admitted to in the local paper). They had about 40 or 50(expected 100), my guess is that a lot of them were out-of-towners. I saw someone there with a Walled Lake shirt.

Unfortunatly, Livingston County is not exactly a hotbed of counterprotesting. That said, kudos to the 10 people or so that were there. A group of Veterans (airborne(101st?, Marines) were there and brought their van and their big German Shepherd dog "Sarge". They wern't there for the political end of it(I'll admit I was). They were there simply to support the troops, and they were not happy at the pieceniks there.

I had a good laugh at a couple of the hippy outfits and bongo drums there. There weren't really too many jerks there, only a few. One punk kid in a suit there was holding up a stick for some unknown reason. One of the veterans made a comment "Why don't you put that down". I missed part of it. The kid there responded "Why don't you put your flags down". I think we all resisted the temptation and kept our tempers in check.
"Go back to Ann Arbor" and "Support our troops" was the most common chants here.

The best part was this. Across the street is a place called Cleary's Pub. A bagpiper there took his cigar and pipes and joined us briefely and played a few songs. He drowned out the bongos and Pete Seeger wannabes and played some good music there. After the rally ended about 11:30, I went over and had a Guinness at Cleary's.

Then things really started to pick up. I drove up to Lansing, stopping briefly at my apartment along the way. I picked up a cigar and a Mtn Dew. Ready to go. I went to the capitol.

I met the rest of em all down there and saw how 'peaceful' they were. About 500 or so at the most. There were some people that I could carry a decent conversation with. Some of the 'peace' backers there were also views I could respect. Quakers for example. I can respect consistency, even when I disagree. However, there were more than a few jerks.

You had your normal "bongos", hippies and "folk wannabes" there gathering in a circle and signing Pete Seeger. There were also the anarchists and direct action nutballs - the same ones that block gas stations.

Three jerks stuck out. One older bearded guy was talking smack and stuff. I forgot what I said, but remember that I finished it off by saying 'son'. That didn't go over well with them. I was told to 'respect my elders, yadda yadda yadda". "You gotta my earn my respect". He starting yelling at one of our guys and was yelled at back. Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Security!!!!!!!!!!! Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Wuss.

Then was some punkass pencilneck anarchist there. After blasting Israel for 'occupying Palestine" and yapping he showed how much of a real man he was by getting in a young lady's face. Real man there. Real peaceful. Other peaceniks there moved him out of there before he got slugged.

Then there was another older bearded guy. He was irate that there were counter protestors there. "I'M SICK OF THESE RIGHT WING PARASITES!!!!!!" was one of the things he yapped. He was pissing, moaning, and bitching about us at THEIR event, and that we didn't have permit, etc. I pay taxes here, and it's called the first amendmtent, son. Real pro-freedom there.... He was yelling at the ladies in particular. I made sure I blew cigar smoke in his face. It was the least I could do. His wife was also there, and they are definatly made for each other. She was a snob that also definatly flies a broom.

I also notices another thing. Almost ALL of the pieceniks were either around 50 or older or under 25. No in between. Lyndon LaRouche's campaign team was there as well.

Lastly, kudoes to the 75 or so pro-American counterprotesters there. We did well, and more than held our own. Some took pics there, and we'll see what happens. I always miss stuff, so if you have anything to add, please do so, and thanks to all that went to Lansing, Howell, or their county rally.

[Dan from Michigan]

Ping

[Dan from Michigan]

I forgot to mention the normal signs there on their side..
Bush is a terrorist, Nazi, Fascist, Oilman, etc, USA biggest bully etc
I saw a Earth flag as well...World Citizen?

[photogirl]

Bumping Up!

[perfect stranger]

Great Support for our troops thank you.

[perfect stranger]

Bump to the top

[deadhead]

"Lastly, kudoes to the 75 or so pro-American counterprotesters there"

Thank you all

"Support Our Troops" bump

[Jon Geb]

I cant believe I missed the Howell Counterprotest. Oh well, I did my part in this area by converting over 15 Democrats to pure Republicans. Thats my current count since my interest in politics begun 3 years ago.

I cant believe there were bongo drums in HOWELL!! My city needs to be disinfected now. Were the police there hostile to the lefties. For all those that arent aware, Howell is probably 80% republican or more.

[Prov3456]

Great job, and great report. Keep up the good work.

We support the troops, President Bush, and FREEDOM!

[MarMema]

Good job. Thanks.

[apackof2]

I was pretty happy with the turn out

[jaysgal]

Don't forget the grown woman that tried getting in an arguement with my son ( Adam is 13). She started yelling in his face that we as Americans "deserved" the attacks on 9-11 because we were too arrogant and a bully nation. When I intervened and told her to pick a fight with an adult she got pissed. I said that if another kid wanted to discuss the issues with Adam that would be fine, but I wasn't going to stand by and let her or any other adult browbeat him.
It was pretty funny when we started chanting in time with the old guy beating on the bongo.

[Zol03]

Oh, yeah it seemed like arguing with kids was their favorite thing to do. More than once someone (mostly old men) tried to argue with my 15 year old sister. Maybe its because they know their arguement would never work with adults, or that we'd be able to counter it!

[RepublicanHippy]

Okay, it is my new mission in life to learn to post photos on FR. I have in front of me 28 great photos of the rally yesterday (courtesy of photogirl) and no way to post them! It can't be that difficult. I've worked with very complicated GIS software, so I should be able to handle this, but right now I feel like a moron. We are never going to attract other Michigan Freepers to come to our rallies if we can't make it interesting by showing photos. Come on Michigan people!

Some thoughts about yesterday:

Although it was balmy weather compared to the sub-zero temps during the Feb. 15 rally there were far less peaceniks (about 500 compared to 1,500 in February). However, they were also a lot more aggressive.

At one point a 19-year old girl was standing next to me. She leaned over and told me that the guy standing next to her had just told her that if he had a bomb on him he would use it to blow us all up. (He was a middle-aged white guy with a 6-7 year old boy with him.) Of course if he really meant it he would have made a bomb and used it. The Anarchist Cookbook is still available is it not? He just said it to shock her. Fortunately she was a fiesty, quick-witted girl and took it is stride. It just angered me that he would say such a thing to a young girl.

Apackof2 and I noticed a CBS/CNN reporter and cameraman watching us. When we looked at her though, she quickly turned her back to us and covered her face with her hair. We went up to her. I said "you aren't biased or anything are you?" To which she replied "oh, do you want to be interviewed?" Apackof2 began talking to her on camera while some of us stood behind apackof2 holding signs aloft for the camera. Then some moron started swearing really loudly. He told his friends that if they swear, the reporter would not be able to air the interview. We quickly squeezed him out though. Photogirl jumped in front of him with her "bombs away" sign.

[RepublicanHippy]

Another poignant moment was when I noticed a group of 8-10 biker dudes standing on the corner across the street from us. The police told me they were veterans so photogirl and I walked over to ask them if they wanted to join us. They said no because they did not like the way the peaceniks were getting in our faces and thought they would end up getting into a confrontation so they left. We gave them some fliers about next week's rally. Maybe they will show up with a couple thousand other biker dudes!

Several times we had very radical peaceniks come up to us trying to start fights. The police quickly moved near to where we were standing because they obviously noticed the situation was getting very tense. A couple times I noticed the peaceniks were trying to encircle us. One guy, a skinhead, weightlifter type, kept staring at us. He looked really evil and mean and gave me the creeps.

I also noticed there were a lot more Middle Easterners at this rally (around 75-100). Some were with the peaceniks but a group of 6-8 who were standing near us appeared to just be taking it all in.

Probably the incident that stands out most for me was at the end of the rally when a Middle Eastern man and woman walked past me. The woman was wearing traditional Middle Eastern clothing with the scarf, etc. and was following a bit behind her husband. As she passed by she read my sign (actually jaysgirl's sign) which showed a picture of Bush in a flight jacket and said "we will not falter, we will not fail...". The woman then looked me right in the eye, smiled and gave me the thumbs up. It gave me chills. I smiled back at her and gave her the thumbs up too.

[RepublicanHippy]

Well, not only did I forget to return your sign that I ran off with last month, but now I have two of them! I can't believe we ran off with your "bombs away" sign. Sorry. You must think I am a kleptomaniac!

[RepublicanHippy]

Just want to say thank you for inviting us to your home to discuss local FR issues. We should post a report of what we discussed (frustrations, etc.).

[RepublicanHippy]

My gosh, first I saw you on the front page of the GR Press again Saturday (great photo) and just a little while ago I saw you on TV giving an interview. You are becoming quite the celebrity! Good job!!! I noticed on the Michigan board that you plan on going to Lansing next week. We need all the support we can get!

[RepublicanHippy]

I think I found a web host. Meeting tomorrow. If all goes well, I'll have the photos up in the next six weeks or so!