It's not in a park, it's in front of a commercial establishment. A "Taco Del Mar:
Posted on 05/30/2004 7:57:50 PM PDT by sionnsar
Thirty years ago. Seattle was still a family-oriented town dominated by blue-collar industries and single-family homes. There was a bohemian presence there, but it was mostly limited to the University District and Capitol Hill.
Today the entire city prides itself on its open-mindnesses. Seattle not only tolerates non-conformity, it celebrates it. It is Seattle where a proposed group home for homeless alcoholics would allow them to drink in their rooms. It is Seattle where police were ordered to pull back during WTO, which allowed the streets to be taken over and occupied by tens of thousand of demonstrators. It is Seattle where a man running for mayor got up during a candidate forum wearing a housedress and combat boots and started dancing on a table. It is Seattle where not one politician, progressive pastor or academic has complained about a sign hanging in a storefront on Rainer Avenue urging "Victory to the Iraqi Resistance!" It is Seattle where a militant black Muslim, James Ujaama, who eventually pleaded guilty to aiding the Taliban, was initially defended by some journalists and civil rights leaders because of his previous community activism.
And feelings matter too. It was in Seattle where County Executive Ron Sims sent out a memo during the holidays asking his employees not to wish each other a "Merry Christmas" because it might inadvertently offend some people.
It doesn't matter how far out your politics, religion or beliefs are, Seattle is committed to fostering respect for all points of view.
Except one.
If you are a supporter of George W. Bush, or a Republican, or even just an old-fashioned, flag-waving patriot, you are not welcome in The Emerald City.
Ken Potts, a veteran of three tours of duty in Vietnam, lives in Seattle's Shoreline area, where his property and truck have been repeatedly vandalized. The reason? He supports George Bush.
His house has been bombarded with eggs, both front and back, his truck scarred with a one-foot scratch. Mail containing left-wing and anti-American literature was sent anonymously to "The Patriot." "I assume," he says, it is because I have a large 'Bush-Cheney' sign on my house. I also have the 101st Airborne Flag on a 25-foot pole during the day, My mail box was also blown up three times last year until I mounted a 20-pound one on a solid steel post cemented into the ground."
When Mr. Potts went to the store to buy something to clean the mess off his house, the cashier, a woman in her 50s, asked about the Bush bumper sticker on his truck, and told him she was a Kerry supporter. She asked why he didn't like Kerry.
"I told her that, since she asked, I did not appreciate him coming back from Vietnam and turning on his brothers still there. She asked what I meant and I told her that I did not appreciate being called a 'war criminal' and a "murderer,' that I was never involved any atrocity, not did I witness such a thing. She then told me that I was in fact a war criminal and murderer and we (troops) were all guilty of atrocities."
When the store manager came over and apologized to him, the cashier yelled at the manager, telling him not to apologize to a murderer for her.
Now if Mr. Potts had been a Muslim cleric or a gay activist and was hounded like this, the city of Seattle, its politicians, pastors and pundits would be all over it. But if the vandalism, property destruction and harassment happens because he supports George Bush, well, that's just mischief.
Interestingly, while this kind of thing goes on in Seattle, there are plenty of Kerry and even some Nader bumper stickers in the supposedly uptight suburbs.
There are two ways to deal with it. The first is to give up and not post a Republican yard sign or a pro-Bush bumper sticker or flag in Seattle. The second is to emulate Mr. Potts. "I was a patriot before it was cool and will remain one until I die. Nobody can intimidate me into taking down my sign or my flag. I earned the right to my opinion and free speech."
Mr. Potts bought a pair of spotlights. One is trained on the Bush-Cheney sign, the other on the Starts and Stripes.
Three words. Good for him.
John Carlson is founder of Washington Policy Center and can be heard daily from 3-6 p.m. [sic] on radio stations KVI-570 [AM]. His column appears every other Sunday. Readers can contact him via e-mail at jcarlsom@fisher[-?]radio.com.
(I know John. Good guy!)
ping
Starts and Stripes.
Readers can contact him via e-mail at jcarlsomn@fisher[-?]radio.com.
I love Seattle. If we could just get 90% of the residents to leave it would be a great place to live.
Someone get this man a shotgun.
And a pallet full of shells.
Great article.
So, does the author have to put up with lots of crap, too?
(note to self...cross Seattle off the list)
My Lord! Have the loony lefties really gotten this bad. Sounds like a call to arms, so to speak, for the true patriots.
LoL!
Seattle pong
The house next to us is vacant and for sale... I'm hopeful my yard sign and the three flags we display (American, Marine Corps, and POW/MIA) will weed out any potential liberal buyers... :-)
I believe Seattle is also the city that has a statue of Lenin gracing one of its parks.
Just damn. God Bless those living in enemy territory. CWII ping.
Yep! That would be us.
Well, isn't that nice.
We lived in Seattle for three years back in the 60s, on Capital Hill. It's a beautiful spot, but even back then it was chock full of hippies.
Stay Safe !
Yes, I suspect he does. I'm almost surprised, observing its leftward drift over the past couple decades, that they print him. Then again, if it catches up to its evil dishonest liberal big sisters the "Seattle Post-Intelligencer" (what do you have after all intelligence has departed? the "P-U!") and the Seattle Times (operative rule: if "Times" is not preceded by "Washington" it's probably chock-full of liberal lies).
It's not easy living in the Seattle area. Downtown Seattle is so disgusting to be in and so difficult to get to due to traffic (I live at most 20 miles to the East) that most everytime I go there's at least one new building up.
The "Eastside" (Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Bothell, etc.) is nicer, less congested, less expensive -- and if you, as a visitor, want to slum in Seattle itself, the bus service into town isn't bad.
It's not in a park, it's in front of a commercial establishment. A "Taco Del Mar:
He just needs to move to eastern Washington state. Night and day difference.
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