Posted on 05/04/2003 6:52:30 PM PDT by DrewsDad
There was a lot of hype over the continuation of the anti-war movement with numerous leftist group gathering at the Capitol of Texas. After running out for a new printer cartridge, I made it to the Capitol about 11:35. Thanks to about 30 parking spots being reserved by TX DPS, I had to park about 2 more blocks further away than usual. I grabbed my 4 signs, 2 fold-up chairs, and camera And headed in the direction of our beautiful pink granite Capitol Building.
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With about 20 minutes before their scheduled rally, there were less than a hundred folks assembled at the steps, with the remainder still approaching on their feeder marches. I looked down toward Congress Avenue and spotted an American flag at the south gate , so I headed down to join them. It was there that I spotted ANTI-LEFT with his sign and Whipitgood holding his "THANK GOD FOR GEORGE W. BUSH" sign. Basil was there as well proudly displaying her Second Amendment Sisters shirt while walking her dog around the area. There were others there whose names I didn't hear, one which was holding British and Israeli flags.
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Shortly later, the first group of leftists came parading up Congress Avenue with their colorful Mardi-Gras style figures on poles. Apparently this was the environmental extremist crowd. Several members of the media popped up to take footage of them passing through right by us through the gates. Some of the media stuck around after they passed and talked to us. They sort of flocked to ANTI-LEFT because of his provacative sign, "FIRST IRAQ, THEN FRANCE, THEN HOLLYWOOD, THEN YOU HIPPIES". ANTI-LEFT explained his sign and had a good statement that was later shown on our local FOX affiliate which is shown an hour earlier, but I didn't have a tape ready when it came on.
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Another feeder march came traipsing through, then we headed up toward the steps to catch part of the rally. I setup my chairs and signs and settled in there. ANTI-LEFT and Whipitgood spotted another march headed toward the gate and headed off to "welcome" them.
I stuck around there holding my signs having numerous conversations with the protestors asking about my sign, "WHY WOULD THE WORKERS WORLD PARTY SUPPORT CHINA'S SLAUGHTER OF TIANANMEN SQUARE PROTESTORS THEN ORGANIZE PROTESTS AGAINST THE U.S.A.???". Many of them indicated that they didn't like working with the Workers World Party, but that they were behind a good number of the protests.
After a bit, WOSG came over with his LIBERATE IRAQ and FREE CUBA sign. We had more discussions with Green Party members, Liberatarian Party Members, Palestinian supporters, even a couple of French defenders, one of which wagged her finger at me telling me that all Europeans hated America. I showed her my sign, "SOCIALIST SPECIAL, PILGRAMMAGE TO PARIS, $399, DELTA IS READY WHEN YOU ARE".
WOSG wandered down to join the others at the south gate. I was getting tire of holding 2 of my signs and my back was killing me after 2 hours of doing this. Just then, someone in a suit walked by and patted my on the back saying, "Keep up the good work". I noticed he was wearing a badge saying State Representative, but I couldn't read his name.
A camera crew noticed my signs and started my way, but they started talking to a lady who walked by right at that time holding an "OPERATION U.S. FREEDOM" sign, but she was there protesting against the war. I felt a bit snubbed by the local CBS crew but noticed later that they already had some good footage from us.
WOSG came back with another person Brad who said he had seen FreeRepublic before and would look us up. We had several visitors to the Capitol that day that came over and said they were with us and thanked us for being there. I talked a bit to a Daily Texan reportor so maybe they will have something tomorrow.
The rally ended, so I packed up my chairs and stuff and we headed back to the south gate to send off all the protestors that walked through the gate on the way down Congress Avenue on another march to protest against the local FOX affiliate. One of them was arrested for throwing a paint ball at the window. Another fool was arrested for laying down in front of one of the officer's horses.
After the protestors had filed past us, we talked a bit more and headed home. Overall they had close to 1,000 people which was a disappointment for them. We had somewhere around 7-10 folks that I counted and got our position heard.
This was election day in Austin so the news focused more on the results than anything else. The ABC affiliate pretty much ignored us. The NBC crew showed a wide shot of us but that was it. I mentioned the FOX station earlier had ANTI-LEFT.
Our best coverage actually came from the local CBS news. They interviewed ANTI-LEFT which I taped him saying, "Freedom's not free and nobody should forget that. I think these people have a right to be here and do what they are doing, and you know, more power to them. We just think they should be reminded that everything comes at a cost including liberty to protest."
Then they closed the segment with the reporter stating: "...and it's that cost that affords these protestors to be here today" and faded out with a shot of the American flag waving proudly.
Maybe this will be the last one of these for a while.
My favorite moment came when I took a photo of the guy in front of the gates with the red turban. He was holding a sign that said "I saw George Bush in My Toilet". I told him he must have been smoking some pretty strong dope to be hallucinating that much--and he actually laughed!
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