Posted on 12/07/2004 10:07:49 AM PST by Phantom Lord
Hey Nelson, go see a doctor and have your head removed from your colon! STAT!
K - here's what I sent...
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Mr. Polite,
Regarding your comments about the President's photos in the Central Market baked-goods stand - the last time I checked, this was not a fascist state. Perhaps you would be more comfortable if you moved to one.
Merry Christmas!
"A link to his lodge:Link to Lodge
His email address: PoliteSr14@aol.com"
ROFLOL!!!! Maybe that pix should be blown up and hung by the other vendors with a bullseye on it.
He is very active in the Alliance for Tolerance and Freedom, and was a guest speaker at a Stop the Hate rally in Lancaster back in October. The Alliance focuses on (in their own words) bringing together people from diverse backgrounds, religious traditions, and nationalities, in the hope that they can promote understanding of our differences and embrace diversity as a way to help eradicate violence and misunderstanding between classes, cultures, religions, nationalities, races, and communities.
Polite often makes public speaking appearances, and the topic of his speeches is very often the need for tolerance and open-mindedness.
So he meets the democrat/leftist criterion to practice ultimate hypocrisy, and has proven so by his recent interactions with David Stoltzfus.
I have a beautiful 20x24 framed copy of President Bushs official portrait that is given to federal officials to hang in their offices. The son of a good friend of ours is the head of the department of agriculture in Kansas. He had an extra copy of the portrait and he saved it for me and gave it to me last year when I traveled through the state. I used to have it hanging in my office, but do not have it there anymore.
The Central Market in Lancaster only conducts business on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. Either Friday or Saturday, I plan to drive down to the market, shake Mr. Stoltzfuss hand, and offer him the portrait. (He may not accept it, not wanting to take the confrontation to a higher level, and I will certainly understand that, but would like to at least offer it to him). I also plan to print out all of the comments on this thread and give him a copy of FReepers views on his and Polites confrontation. Stoltzfus is a very common Amish/Mennonite name, so I rather doubt that Mr. Stoltzfus has a computer, let alone access to FR.
Hypocrisy is an ignoble trait. But when its practice seeks to restrict the liberties of others it progresses from ignoble to sinister. Fortunately, in this case, the progression will be stopped in its tracks by public outcry. Freedom of speech, praticed by many outraged patriots, will have worked to preserve the freedom of speech of one of our own.
~ joanie
(I'll leave you guessing whether I am the yellow guy on the right or the yellow guy on the left ... the suspense will do you good ... :)
Will elaborate later ... working with few functioning brain cells at the moment ...
~ joanie
:-)
My husband and I drove down to Central Market (a wonderful market located in the center of Lancaster City, housed in a Romanesque revival style building, constructed in 1889 and the oldest continuously-running, publicly owned market in America) and sought out David Stoltzfus's bakery stand. He wasn't hard to find.
We introduced ourselves and told him that we are familiar with the controversy that his photos of the President (and Mrs. Bush) have caused, and shook his hand. I told him that I participate in a conservative political internet forum, that his story had received notice there, and then handed him a folder containing a printout of this thread and all of the comments. He was deeply touched and extremely grateful.
Rick then told him that we had a large, framed copy of the President's official portrait in our car, which had been given to a friend who heads the agriculture department in Kansas, and that we (and our friend) would like him to have it. He stood there, somewhat stunned, and asked, 'You mean you want to give it to me?' When we assured him that we did, he became a little emotional and said, 'You're going to bring me to tears.'
Rick returned to the car and retrieved the portrait, and we presented it to him. He was far more appreciative that I had expected, and we were both deeply moved by his response.
Mr. Stoltzfus is a humble, but well-spoken man, who runs his bakery business out of his home in Lititz (a town just outside of Lancaster). He bakes mostly for restaurants, but sells to the public three days a week at Central Market. His home-based business is doing so well that he will soon be opening up a bakery/delicatessen in Leola (another nearby town in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country).
He did not set out to create waves, but he intends to stand his ground on this important free-speech issue (Councilman Polite apparently has not yet given up his fight to have the photographs removed, despite the enormous and vocal public support that Stoltzfus is receiving).
Stoltzfus said that it was apparent that Polite was 'on a mission' when he showed up at the bakery stand last month. He gruffly informed Stoltzfus that he would have to remove the pictures of the President because they were 'offensive' and 'inappropriate' to which Stoltzfus replied that he would not, because it amounted to a Constitutional freedom of speech issue. Councilman Polite informed him that the confrontation would not end there, and that the issue would be 'taken to a higher power' (no doubt referring to City Council itself).
In the perhaps twenty minutes that we spoke with him, four or five other people came up and inquired as to whether he was the man who was 'being harassed'. They all sought him out in order to offer their support, and Rick and I had excellent conversations with them as as well. To a man, they were well-informed, and strongly acknowledged the need to take an immovable stand on such issues at the local level.
Afterwards, we walked around the rest of the market and noticed that perhaps a full half of the other stands were proudly displaying pictures of the President. I strongly suspect that a good many of those pictures were hung after the Stoltzfus/Polite confrontation, as a show of solidarity.
Rick and I met a good example of hardy and steadfast 'middle America' yesterday, and we are extremely proud to have made his acquaintance.
~ joanie
Great report. Thanks for the ping. What a great guy he must be.
Thanks Joanie.
Thanks for the ping.
good job Joanie!
Thanks for the great pics, as well!
Great work!
Thanks so much for the ping and for making the presentation of this FR thread to David Stoltzfus. Great job and great report!
bump
If this was 60 years ago I'd venture a guess and Councilman Polite would be just another dipsh!t NAZI instead of today where he is just another dipsh!t neo-nazi
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