Posted on 05/04/2005 7:33:16 AM PDT by Flightdeck
Arrest made at Coulter speech
Student arrested, charged with disorderly conduct after offensive question
By Yashoda Sampath
Incessant heckling and shouting culminated in an arrest Tuesday night during a speech by Ann Coulter, an extreme right-wing pundit, at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum.
Shouts became so pervasive during the question-and-answer session that Coulter informed the organizers she would no longer take questions if the hecklers were not silenced. For a time, the shouts were considerably lessened, until the issue of gay marriage was broached.
Coulter said she supported the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman on the basis that a good woman civilizes and inspires a man to strive for something better, leading to a question that was met with a stunned silence.
"You say that you believe in the sanctity of marriage," said Ajai Raj, an English sophomore. "How do you feel about marriages where the man does nothing but f--- his wife up the ass?"
UT Police officers approached Raj to arrest him, resulting in a mass exodus of protesters chanting, "Let him go."
"The person had been disruptive the entire event," said Matt Hardigree, former Student Events Center president. "He took the opportunity to say something lewd and offensive and then made masturbatory gestures as he exited."
Hardigree said that Cheryl Wood from the Office of the Dean of Students spoke with some of the protestors before the event, and assorted members of the Distinguished Speakers Committee asked them to sit in the back if they had signs and to leave quietly if they wanted to leave.
According to Jeffrey Stockerwell, a friend of Raj, officers violently seized Raj and illegally searched him after his question.
Police have charged Raj with disorderly conduct, a Class C misdemeanor.
Representatives of the Austin People's Legal Collective were taking statements from everyone at the scene, in case it should be taken to court.
Raj worked at the Texan on a volunteer basis for a brief time in March.
Before the speech began, the International Socialist Organization protested outside of the library, with about 12 people holding up signs with slogans such as "Racist, sexist, anti-gay, right-wing bigot go away" and "Stop the new McCarthyism."
The booing began early into Coulter's speech, when she issued a joke to pro-choice advocates.
"I wonder why those 'I Heart Partial-Birth Abortion' T-shirts aren't selling better," she said, followed by a combination of cheers and jeers.
Coulter went on to decry the conservative media bias she said liberals complain of, and she challenged the undemocratic actions of liberals with respect to Iraq and to the judiciary.
"They're always trying to act like they're oppressed," she said. "So let's do it. Let's oppress them."
One student asked Coulter why universities and institutions place microphones in front of Coulter when she advocates terrorism against liberals, prompting Coulter to mention the strength of her book sales. Coulter has had four New York Times best sellers.
The $30,000 event was co-sponsored by the Texas Union Student Events Center and Student Endowed Centennial Lectureship Committee.
Hmmm, the news accounts somewhat edited his question to Ann, no? At least the good news is that ol' Raj might not be so easily getting the possession charge dropped after all.
I believe that's their official description ;-)
But I do believe that one can be opposed to immigration without being considered a racist. If you don't agree with me here, then we will never agree on anything.
I am especially sensitive to Asian immigrants, typically non-citizens, who come to the USA, join leftist circles, enjoy the benefits of the world's strongest ecomony and most free country, and then bash the USA mercilessly. I recall one that shares your surname (assuming it is Reddy) who was on the research staff at my graduate school who just drove me through the roof. I confess that I never said to him what I dreamed of saying -- "D-mn it, go home and fix your caste system before dumping all over my country!"
"You say that you believe in the sanctity of marriage," said Ajai Raj, an English sophomore. "How do you feel about marriages where the man does nothing but f--- his wife up the ass?"
I hope he winds up sharing a cell with some big guy named Leroy who is really lonely. Then he might get some first hand experience.
Freedom of speech ends when it interferes with the rights of someone else to speak or for others to hear that person speak.
This is the same kind of tactic radical leftist students have employed in the past and it should get them thrown of college on their collective asses.
Ann has written that were it not for the women's vote, no Democrat would have been elected president since Roosevelt. Her references to repealing the vote for women are entirely facetious (I think!).
There is a huge difference between protesting Ann and censoring her. What ever happened to "I'll defend to the death your right to say it"? They call the right fascists, but they are the ones shouting disenting voices down. And they are very happy about it. Thank God they are losing elections all over the country, time and time again. Nobody is rushing to embrace these hairy, smelly pot-heads and their "anything goes unless there's an R by the name...man" party-line.
I think men and women benefit equally in any healthy relationship, so I tend to dissagree with Ann's emphasis on a woman's gentling/inspiring role in a marriage. I think she could be more intellectually honest here. Liberals take notice: though I am not in agreement (entirely) with her, I do not censor her.
this guy's disgusting, no question.
but that's why i disagreed last week with the spitting on jane fonda. as much as i dislike fonda--i think she should have been tried for treason, one cannot condone incidents such as this.
"Embattled, sometimes controversial professor"
I am a student at UT, and this sort of thing is really embarrassing to me, and I want people to understand that this sort of thing is not representative of the campus or the city as a whole. Fortunately for me, it is almost all contained in the liberal parts of campus and not up in the engineering area. I am surrounded by hard working, intelligent students, and I rarely see anything of this sort. On the rare occasion I do, it's because I was hanging out near the math and physics building which tends to be more liberal, and even then it's nothing like the extreme liberalism you see in the inner campus.
I just want to reiterate that these extremist activities do not represent all of the student body. Not everyone here is a liberal arts major, specializing in left-wing BS. A lot of us are intelligent and busting our butts to make something of ourselves and want nothing to do with the other side.
Just defending my university, and my home town. :-)
Hmmmm ..... this sounds like a description of NJ Gov. James McGreevey's marriage.
supposedly written by this turd, posted at DUmmyland
AJAI RAJ
04/05/05
Open Letter to Anyone Who Gives a Sh*t About Justice
I’m writing this in response to the spectacle that occurred in the LBJ Library on Tuesday, May 3rd, 2005, when Ann Coulter, a diabolical, ignorant, but nevertheless charismatic right-wing pundit, came to speak at UT. Ms. Coulter- yes, Ms, I’d personally think such a vocal female conservative would be making Bubba a meatloaf instead of addressing a politically-minded collegiate audience, but whatever- is the author of relentlessly mendacious anti-liberal books, such as Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right and Treason: Liberal Treachery From the Cold War to the War on Terrorism. She’s famous for having an ass that stores so many lies it makes clown-car designers envious. Like her or not (and if you do, I’m surprised you can read) she’s a Big F*cking Deal.
The title of the front-page story covering Ms. Coulter’s in the Texan was “Arrest Made at Coulter Speech”. You could also have caught it on CBS or in the Austin-American Statesman. The general idea is that some jackass made a scene, and Ann Coulter was also there.
I am Ajai Raj, and I am a jackass.
In his article, which I enjoyed and commend him for, Mr. Sampath quoted the former president of the Student Events Center, the organization which arranged the event. He wrote:
"The person had been disruptive the entire event," said Matt Hardigree, former Student Events Center president. "He took the opportunity to say something lewd and offensive and then made masturbatory gestures as he exited."
And what do I have to say in rebuttal? Not a goddamn thing.
Matt Hardigree got it spot-on! From the beginning I was yelling obscenities along with my friends, roaring at Ms. Coulter’s right-wing bullsh*t festival the way no one else had the balls to. Mr. Sampath writes in his article that (and this is my take) the protestors were told to be good all along. They were told to sit in the back and hold their signs and leave quietly. No wonder hippies get such a bad rap nowadays; protestors today might as well be ornaments on the Rightmobile. When I want someone to know I’m pissed off, I’m going to throw down and give them a good sh*t-ruining. I wanted to show Ms. Coulter that people are down if she wants to hold a circle-jerk, but we’re not gonna do it her way. Not me, at least.
So yes, the Q&A session came around, and it was pathetic. Her slack-jawed fans got up and licked her face so she could pat them on the head- one schmuck offered to be her bodyguard, and she smiled, doubtlessly making a mental note that she wouldn’t touch his nether regions if she were King Midas; liberal protestors posed well-intentioned but woefully timid questions and got shot down in a hail of ignorant shitfire from the She-Dragon. Standing in line awaiting my turn, I watched her send a moderate Republican, who had questioned the sheer incendiary magnitude of her rhetoric, walk away in tears when she tore him apart for daring to question her.
So yes, I saw my “opportunity to say something lewd and offensive.” And I took it.
She had just said something about gay marriage, the typical rightwing bullsh*t spiel that is still convincing people that the Bible is really the Constitution. Knowing that taking the time to say something insightful, specific, or even slightly critical would get me a lame comeback and a ticket back to my seat, I realized that the only way to win this battle was to fight fire with fire. Or bullsh*t with bullsh*t. So, as reported in yesterday’s Texan, I fired:
"You say that you believe in the sanctity of marriage," said Ajai Raj, an English sophomore. "How do you feel about marriages where the man does nothing but f*ck his wife up the ass?"
And the crowd fell silent. Ms. Coulter stood stunned atop her stage, unprepared for a jackass to say something so utterly crude and to the point. Her pompous and mean air is enough to stump questioners into timidity, I wasn’t about to let her stop me. The audience members looked at me with raw disbelief; later, even friends who know me well admitted that they’d been surprised at how vulgar I’d been. The others in line for Q&A, mostly liberals, looked at me like I’d set their cause back forty years.
Did I give a sh*t? No. If I had a message, it’s that the whole thing was a joke- hell, our whole political scene today is a f*cking joke. Everyone’s out to either pat themselves on the back for being right or whine about how they’re being wronged without ever lifting a finger to fight for it.
So rather than dignify anyone else, I “made masturbatory gestures” as I exited. Again, bingo! I danced a jig and set my hand a-jerkin’ at crotch-level, sneering for the crowd and letting them know I was ready to roll. I yelled to my friends that we were gonna split and made for the door.
Two cops approached me. I figured they were going to tell me I had to leave, so I said “You can’t fire me, because I quit!”
“You’re under arrest.”
It was my turn to be shocked. I tried to ask them what for; saying “f*ck her in the ass”” at a college isn’t a crime, last time I checked. They apparently mistook my inquiries for aggression, and grabbed me roughly and slammed me into the door. Within seconds the backmost two or three rows was surging forward, following the scene as the cops dragged me out the door. They yelled and chanted; my friends were more outraged than I’d ever seen any of them before. As they pushed me into the car, I heard my good friend Jeffrey Stockwell scream, “THIS ISN’T A JUSTICE SYSTEM! YOU CALL THIS PROTECTING AND SERVING?!” The crowd took up a chant at the UTPD officers: “Shame! Shame! Shame!”
Shame is f*cking right. When I asked the cops why they thought I needed cuffing, they told me that they didn’t even see anything that happened, they were just doing as told.
As a good friend pointed out to me, it’s a scary thought that people who are given weapons and the authority to forcibly detain people can act without knowledge of a situation.
I’m writing this at 7:15 A.M. Wednesday, having recouped over a few cigarettes and some coffee after being released from jail around 3 A.M. I had a party waiting for me- twenty or so friends and supporters, who showered me with gifts such as a card, sodas, cigarettes, food, and a Blondie CD (go figure). Several civil rights-interested associations approached me, offering pro bono legal representation and showing their support.
I have no regrets. Was I jackass? Yes. Oh Christ, yes. But here’s the question people ought to ask themselves. Did I deserve to be arrested? Did the cops need to rough me up for saying bad words at what was at least masquerading as an open dialogue? Do the people of Texas- hell, of America- feel that “potty mouth” belongs on the list of punishable crimes along with “aggravated assault” and “armed robbery”?
As stated in the Texan article, I am charged with Disorderly Conduct, which is a Class C Misdemeanor. Other Class C Misdemeanors include DWIs, possession of drug paraphernalia, and speeding tickets. Without getting into the justification for all of those, were my naughty words and crude hand motions as imposing a danger?
This isn’t about politics anymore, however it might have come about. Either you think it’s an absurd outrage or you think swearing is a crime. Trey Parker and Matt Stone are Republicans, for Christ’s sake. Raise your hand if you watch South Park.
This is about drawing a line in the sand. It made me proud to see people standing up and calling bullshit when bullsh*t needed to be called. All politics aside, people ought to ask themselves, how far should our representatives of “justice” be allowed to go? Do the American people believe in censorship rights for the rich and famous?
I know I didn’t slay the insidious evil that is Ann Coulter, but I did give her pause. She can easily go to another college or hoedown or whatever and spew her tired rhetoric without worrying about me. But I’m not the only one who feels this way. Other people will call her on her sh*t.
And hey, Ann, don’t come back to UT. We’re better than your bullsh*t here. And I can think of at least one jackass here who can dish it out better than you.
To which a lesser lady might have replied;
"I am so sorry to hear about your parents"
Yeah, I'm an engineer there also. Politics rarely enters the building.
It is one of THE most liberal universities in the nation. Send your kids there and they will be exposed to this crap on a daily, hourly basis.
this guy's pathetic.
you must wonder how someone of his ilk got into the university of texas.
Re: "I think we should take her advice literally, and deal with her."
Too many times we say that we need to do something and do nothing - will you? I think if more of us did do something about the problem - we may not have the illegal problems we do have.
Well - the problem with writing to those kind of people is that you may find something "new" in your computer Spam File! If you know what I mean!
"you must wonder how someone of his ilk got into the university of texas."
top ten percent rule.
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