Posted on 03/08/2003 10:39:19 AM PST by Angelwood
Members of the DC Chapter of Free Republic are conducting a surprise FReep of the March for Peace organized by NOW and the Code Pink Ladies and it is going on as I type.
The Now and Code Pink Ladies will be joined by Raelian women (and Raelian men in touch with their feminine side) who plan a disrobing ceremony in front of the White House. Reports from the scene tell me that there's a bunch of Howard Stern fans who came to the White House today for the unveiling.
Positioned on the North side of Lafayette Park, inside the barriers, and ready to greet the "Peace" marchers are: Jimmy Valentine's brother, kristinn, tgslTakoma, daughterofTGSL, Cal, Exit148, Doctor Raoul and BillF. They have been interviewed already by Agence France-Presse and have had some spirited debates.
Lafayette Park is surrounded by a barricade fence and those marching will be confined to H Street, N.W. and 15th and 17th Streets. There are smaller groups (remember the 24 or less protest rule) currently allowed inside Lafayette Park and in front of the White House. If there is a confrontation, the DC Chapter members have been told they will be moved.
There are lots of smaller groups of people coming to the march, but they don't seem to know where it is and they are asking the FReepers for directions. Courteous as always, we are telling them "It's 12 blocks up and turn left at Bagdad."
The FReepers are armed with signs saying:
Code Pink Doesn't Care
The Pink Ladies Have RED Blood on Their Hands
Suzie "Medea" Benjamin Has Blood on Her Hands (she actually gave blood in Iraq a few weeks ago)
Code Pink Supports the Rape of Iraqi Women by Saddam's Torturers
The media is out in force for this march. Most of the tourists have come to see the naked Raelians.
The march was supposed to start at 1 p.m. but they have not reached the White House yet.
If you are with a group protesting in DC and your numbers are 24 or less, you do not need a permit. If you have the magic "25" or more, you do need a permit and can be subject to expulsion or arrest if circumstances are such that they are enforcing the rules to the letter.
For the majority of our protests outside the White House, or elsewhere in DC for that matter, I arrange for permits to cover people showing up and joining us.
We have such a permit for this coming Tuesday evening. Hillary is having another fundraiser, this time for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. We will be out in force at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Whitehaven Street, N.W. to give all Hillary's guests a FReeper welcome. We'll have a real good time!
Without even missing a beat, they will:
a) Cross out the "Q" on the "No War on Iraq" signs, and replace it with an "N".
b) Cross out "Iraq" and replace it with "North Korea".
c) "No Blood for Oil Kimchee"
With all our repositioning, our final bastion was right in the belly of the beast, and gave us great exposure! We were middle-fingered, sassed, pushed, confronted, yelled at, and lots of dirty looks! It was wonderful! We made a lot of people mad! HEEHEE!
Toward the end, a young girl came over to me to thank us for being there. She is in the Navy but hasn't been called to go, yet. She said that altho she would prefer not to go overseas, she is prepared and will willingly do her job. She said she had been out jogging, ran over to the WH to see what was up, and was disgusted to see the protesters, their signs, and their attitude. When she saw us, she was delighted to find this little pocket of sanity, and thanked us for being there with our message.
There was another confrontation earlier between a couple that were pro-Palestinian and a Freeperfromoutoftown. At first there was quiet, polite discussion which turned to discord, and finally face to face shouting with anti-Jewish comments being tossed by the pro-Palestine woman. Her husband had to forcefully take her by the arm to lead her away - but she kept shouting over her shoulder! Tolerant liberal, eh?
On the train, on my way home, I gave my husband a call and just mentioned (rather quietly, I thought) that the Freep was a huge success- alto we were greatly outnumbered. Well----a woman in the seat behind me overheard my call, and bent over the seat with a big smile and said "Oh-- were you there, too?" I clued her in on what side I was on,---- and then she started! Her biggest claim to fame was that her family was here from year 1 AD. She was a true-blue blood from before the Revolutionary War, and has had family shed their blood in every war there ever was. No matter what I said, it was NOTHING compared to what her family went thru! She was against war because her family blah, blah, blah. Try to get a word in edgewise? Any talk about disarming Hussain, 'peace thru strength', support our troops and President Bush --whatever ---met deaf ears. I finally raised my voice and said I resented her comments that only her family could be patriotic, when many of us have had family serve in wars and that the last time I looked, it was immigrants that had something to do with our greatness. She finally sat down and shut up. When she left the train in Philly, I was waiting to flash her the V sign, but she never looked my way.
All in all, a very satisfying day with unthinkingly fantabulous weather! It was nice to be joined by like-thinkers, and to be thanked by those with our point of view.
The police (so many variations of them! On horseback, on bikes, city police, park police, police with scrambled egg on their hats, police with shirts and ties, and the members of the 'swat team'!) were all polite and watchful. There was just one of them, however, when we had the most confrontations, yet he handled our problems with ease and good humor.
I have some pictures that will take time for me to post, but there are not many. We were TOO busy holding the fort and manning the bastions!
D.C. FReepers rock!
LOL! There were a lot of Kens, too!
There were some crazy get-ups on some of these in-your-face people! One young girl came up to me, angry as h**l. She shouted something about her being a lesbian and she was proud of it. I just said "So?"
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