Residents For Peace, War Take Cases To Street

Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Review ^ | 13 April 2003 | David Rupkalvis

[martin_fierro]

Good for you BUMP.

In the old days (before, say, 1995) your side of what happened NEVER would've gotten out.

We'd've had to rely solely on this reporter's take on events.

Your side of the story would've been relegated to the "Letters to the Editor," if it got printed at all.

Now THOUSANDS of people -- possibly more than this newspaper's total circulation -- can read what you saw happening.

FReep on!

[Spiff]

Here's the hippies' report on what happened:

Many people who either said or implied they were coming--didn't. We were about a dozen or so. We were followed down the street and back by a brain-dead moron who kept parking in handy parking lots and spewing ridiculous crap out a bullhorn! His favorite was this gem: "1, 2, 3, 4, peace can only come through war." Huh? He was also shouting statistics he must have pulled from thin air, because they had no basis in reality. But we met some nice people too. Anyway, this town needed some shaking up! I think the marchers from Bisbee were a bit stunned. I had warned them--Sierra Vista is NOT like Bisbee. Unfortunately!

No hard and fast plans for a "next one" yet. We had been discussing holding a teach-in. From the blatant ignorance displayed today, this town sure could use one! We also discussed a planning meeting--some of us getting together and deciding what we want to do and when we want to do it. You (and anyone) are certainly welcome to suggest anything you want. Or just decide on something and let me know and I'll let the mailing list know. That's all I did. Nobody was doing anything in this town, so I just said, "We're doing this. Come if you want to."

If anyone would like a copy of the hippies' email list, freepmail me.

[Spiff]

Another report from the idiot hippies. This guy is a sci-fi author whose wife plays guitar in a goth-folk duo. They're both certifiable nuts.

A few more folks showed. I didn't count; I'm guessing fifteen. It was a nicely mixed group, and while the aggregate was definitely leftist, there were old ladies and young kids and a vet and Emma and me. George W. Bush should've been proud. We were a sample of America.

A reporter and a photographer from the local paper arrived. I pointed out that the US defeated the Soviet Union without dropping bombs on it. We'll see if they decide the march was enough of an event to cover. A pudgy conservative guy [Who's calling who pudgy!? This dork is the 5th person from the left in one of the photos above. He's wearing a sweatshirt with a globe on it.] in an SUV showed up with his kid and a loudspeaker to harass us. I admired his chants: "One, two, three, four, peace can only come through war. Five, six, seven, eight, the U.S. fights to liberate. Traitor, moron, coward, fool, you are only Saddom's tool!" [No, the chant was "Liars! Losers! Traitors! Fools! You all serve as Saddam's tools!"]

We walked down the sidewalk to Fort Huachuca, about seven blocks of moderate length. A few more people joined us as we walked. Mr. Loudspeaker drove his car about two blocks at a time so he could chant at us as we went by. We ignored him. We were each exercising our right of free speech.[They did not ignore me. I got flipped off a few times. I had some chick at the front who kept cackling maniacly in an attempt to pretend to "laugh off" my derision. They kept pointing and talking about me. They shouted many idiot retorts. I certainly distracted them and demoralized their stupid march.]

I pretty much quit worrying about being jumped by war-supporters after the first block or so. I stayed wary, of course. We were getting a lot more half-peace symbols than in Bisbee, but we got our share of full ones, too. No one blocked our way or threw anything at us or tried to hit anyone. I figured freedom of speech was working the way it's supposed to. A couple of people suggested we move to Iraq, and we all refrained from answering, "Why? So we would be bombed?" When we got to the Fort, we crossed at the light, then crossed back on the other side.

While we were walking back, a young guy came running up to us. He said he was proud to see us, and he was a soldier, and a lot of the guys didn't understand how the protesters could be against the war without being against them, but he got it, and he knew other soldiers who had their doubts about the war, and he wanted us to know that he respected what we were doing. That moment made the whole thing worthwhile. [Ummm...nice fiction there, buddy. I watched you guys up and down Fry and there was no soldier running up to thank you for your sedition. Pitiful that you have to lie in an attempt to make your who pathetic march worthwhile] Other moments made it nice: the returned peace symbols and the thumbs-ups. A brief discussion with a young hispanic woman who asked why we were doing this, and listened, and said she would go over if she got sent, so she wasn't converted on the spot and may never be converted--but she listened, and maybe she'll read a little more about the price the Iraqis are paying for Bush's Liberation.

A nice young cop stopped us. I was prepared to say we had a permit, but I wasn't prepared for what he said. Apparently, someone on the fort or claiming to be on the fort had called the police and said we came up to the guard house and blocked traffic. The cop listened, saw that we were extremely polite protesters, and let us go on with a reminder to stay on the sidewalk.

Oh, another counter-protest moment that I rather admired: a guy tossed suckers at us, calling, "Suckers for the suckers." [That was FReeper SandRat who joined me near the end.]I should've picked one up and thanked him, but my first thought was annoyance that he wasn't tossing mini Snickers or Almond Joys.

[eddie willers]

"Excellent freep, young go-getter."

[Spiff]

"Excellent freep, young go-getter."

Thanks!

[SandRat]

Everyone take a real close look the sign the bimbo in the yellow and something paterned dress is holding. Look at the bottom left of the sign. It says "Peoples Weekly World."

"Peoples Weekly World"

These are not just "PEACE PROTESTERS" they are Freaking Marxists!

[Spiff]

Monday morning bump.

[Trueblackman]

My hats off to you as well...I wish I had taken pictures.

[Spiff]

Thanks. If you plan future FReeps you should invest in a bullhorn. Mine was only $39.00 at Radio Shack and it was VERY effective. It is a great investment for such things.

[Flora McDonald]

That was a great freep report and I loved your chants. I have done 3 Freeps in silence, the signs speak for me and the target audience still gets upset. But how I long for a bullhorn...heheheh.

Also, someone who would force themselves on a child, like the person who thrust the picture at your son, sounds pretty unstable and stunted.

[Spiff]

That was a great freep report and I loved your chants. I have done 3 Freeps in silence, the signs speak for me and the target audience still gets upset. But how I long for a bullhorn...heheheh. Also, someone who would force themselves on a child, like the person who thrust the picture at your son, sounds pretty unstable and stunted.

Thanks for the compliments. I didn't know what I was going to say through the bullhorn until the night before the FReep I kept waking up in the middle of the night with a complete chant in my head. I would write it down and go back to sleep.

As for the bullhorn, go to Radio Shack and pick up the Musical PowerHorn for $39.99. It has an external microphone jack that you can use to pipe your portable CD player (if you get the right cable - the sales people will show you which cable to get) through the bullhorn. I loved playing "Proud to be an American", "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue", and "Iraq and I Roll" at the hippies.

My original intention was to listen to the hippies chants, alter them, and then blast the new chant back in their faces. They didn't start chanting so I had a few ready for them. In your FReeps, if you quick-witted, you can listen to their chants and change them on the fly - blast the new chants through the bullhorn and watch the peacenik idiots quickly lose their steam.

[Mr. Silverback]

Anti-war and pro-war factions faced off Saturday, disagreeing on almost every facet of the war in Iraq. The one thing the two sides agreed on was that they wanted U.S. troops to come home safely and quickly.

The opposition is lying about something...If our troops had really been doing the things the peaceniks predicted they would do in Iraq (killing 500,000 Iraqi civilians, etc.), they would be terrorist scum every bit as bad as our enemies. Either the peaceniks are lying when they talk about our troops like they are a terrorist travelling roadshow or they are lying when they say they support the troops.

[Mr. Silverback]

From the hippy email you posted:
We had been discussing holding a teach-in. From the blatant ignorance displayed today, this town sure could use one!

I know you mentioned that other folks (SandRat and passersby) helped and encouraged you, but did you notice that she doesn't mention those folks but does mention you and the entire town's need for a teach-in? I've seen this same phenomenon here in Freeport. At their last meeting, our local peaceniks spent quite some time whining to the Journal-Standard reporter about "pressure" and "intimidation" and cited my "Welcome Terrorist Fan Club" sign as an example. They're so sure that they are right and pure and the only truly rational creatures on Earth that they over-react to any opposition. Do you know of any other group of 40 people with advanced college educations who are intimidated by one High School educated hick from York County, Maine?