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anti-press ezine 2005 07 06
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< ANTI-PRESS EZINE #53 >
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"We're Positive About The Negative"
This E-dition filed 07/06/05 from NENYland (pronounced nee-nee-land),
the northeastern corner of New York State (i.e. the hinterlands). Our
Precision Reality Center, located in Plattsburgh -- The Fake City --
features Bull Tracker 9000. More details at the end of this e-dition.
(C) Copyright 2005 Anti-Press
=============================================================
* The Fred Phelps Circus Comes To Town:
Homophobia Meets Hate in Plattsburgh *
"YOU WILL BURN IN HELL!"
"NO, YOU'LL GO TO HELL!"
Saturday afternoon.
July 2, 2005.
A date which will live in inanity.
Two sides of an issue, two sides of the street.
On one side, demonstrators from Kansas, members of the Westboro Baptist
Church. They were picketing a Plattsburgh church, holding up signs that
proclaimed THANK GOD FOR 9/11 and AMERICA IS A FAG NATION. Their
leader, the Reverend Fred Phelps, wages a war of words against
homosexuality, all detailed at his Website, www.godhatesgays.com. His
site lists scheduled demonstrations throughout the country against "fag
enablers."
On the other side, locals opposed to outsiders telling them how to
believe and live. Some locals exchanged epithets and taunts with the
Phelps group, even though a new group, Plattsburgh For Peace (PFP), had
advocated ignoring the anti-gay picketers.
At the center of this clash of beliefs was Plattsburgh's mayor, Dan
Stewart, who has been described in the media as being openly gay. It's
Burghomeister Dan who inadvertently brought about this public stir a day
before the city would launch its annual Mayor's Cup Festival.
The Festival is a multi-day event tied in with a sailboat race on Lake
Champlain. The "landlubber" activities have grown over the years;
there's loud music, greasy food, and fireworks.
That's fireworks as in pyrotechnics in the sky, not the shouting match
kind.
What spurred the Fred Phelps crew to visit can be traced back to a city
common council meeting held last December. A citizen approached the
council to see if various groups could have booths at the Mayor's Cup
free of charge. The discussion dealt with free speech and what limits
can be placed upon it. The citizen stated that he felt that any group,
from the Boy Scouts to Nazis, had the right to present their viewpoints.
Burghomeister Dan: knee-jerk reaction. He said he didn't want a hate
group like Fred Phelps and his followers to visit.
A local reporter noted the comment in an article that was also published
on the Web.
Thanks to the Net, someone can fart at a funeral in Duluth and people in
Dudinka will know about it within minutes. Apparently Phelps learned
about the mayor's comment through the Net. A couple of days after the
article appeared, Phelps announced he and his members were coming to
Plattsburgh to picket all the "whorehouse" churches and the Festival
itself.
Obviously the Burghomeister has the right to say what he wants. But as
a politician, he must realize certain statements can come back and bite
you. If he could do it over again at that city council meeting last
winter, would he have skipped over any mention of Phelps by name and
just talked about hate groups in general?
To be a politician, one should be political at all times. Or be prepared
to ride out a storm.
Because of his passing comment, the mayor found himself dealing with
virulent homophobes stirring up trouble in his city. That meant setting
up picket areas at various churches, all coordinated by the police
department that had to assign officers to escort the Phelps Circus and
to keep the peace. Such efforts had to involve overtime pay, tax money
not spent on potholed streets or the crumbling public library stairs.
The Phelps Circus agitated local citizens the entire weekend. It gave
repeat performances on Sunday afternoon at more churches and then
wrapped up by making an appearance downtown for the first day of the
Mayor's Cup. More verbal arrows flying back and forth. More cops
keeping emotions in check. More tax money pissed away.
During both days of protests there were locals who just held up signs,
who didn't engage in execrative warfare. At one picket a white-haired
woman stood in front of her church and sang a song about God, love, and
peace. Others just shook their heads and kept walking.
And then there were those ready to vent.
Plattsburgh For Peace hoped that people would ignore the Phelps Circus.
The PFP, created in response to the announcement of the pickets, raised
funds for charity by selling different items -- stickers, bracelets,
t-shirts -- all printed with a special symbol it had created. The
familiar octagonal stop sign shape was the basis for PFP's symbol and
core message: STOP HATE.
But during the trans-street confrontations between the locals and the
homophobes, a few locals were shouting heated comments and making rude
gestures, even though they wore STOP HATE t-shirts or had pasted STOP
HATE stickers on their clothing.
A headline in the (news)paper said the protests were peaceful. That
depends how you define peaceful. Usually peace isn't associated with
vocal vitriol and middle-finger displays. Then again, no one was beaten
up, stabbed, or shot. So maybe you can call that "peaceful."
At least the Burghomeister didn't stay away. He walked into church to
attend mass, applauded by a few locals, while across the street the
homophobes raged on.
And where was the Reverend Fred Phelps? Supposedly he was protesting in
another state. That doesn't look good. After all, he promised to show
up in Plattsburgh but never appeared. Isn't he a man of his word? His
absence could cause someone to question his intestinal fortitude -- God
forbid. A cynic might affix a flowery label on Phelps.
For example: shrinking violet.
Or pansy.
* Bordering On Insanity *
In a previous e-dition we described how an average American citizen was
hassled at the border by a U.S. Customs officer for having a shortwave
radio in his car.
No, it wasn't a transceiver or radio capable of transmitting on the
shortwave bands. It was just a portable for listening. A SW buff, he
had been visiting a friend in Canada to show him the unit.
But the official on the American side made a big deal about the radio.
He took it inside his booth and called central command. Apparently an
ordinary SW radio is on the list of Potential Instruments of Terrorism
-- or as we call it, PITs. The American officer could have kept the
radio or turned the American citizen away, forcing him to clear up the
matter at the U.S. embassy in Montreal. A lot of crap for having a
simple radio.
Then this story comes along, courtesy of The Associated Press.
Back in April of this year a Gregory Despres showed up at a
U.S.-Canadian border crossing in Maine, telling a U.S. customs officer
that he was an assassin. According to someone else who was being
processed at the same time, the officers checked Despres' bag and found
a homemade sword, a knife, a hatchet, a bullet proof vest, two brass
knuckles and a chainsaw stained with what might have been blood.
Then the customs officers let Despres enter the U.S.
The next day two of Despres' neighbors turned up dead, one stabbed, the
other decapitated. The head had been left in a pillowcase under the
kitchen table.
The Associated Press article included a headshot of Despres. Remember
the character created by comedian Martin Short, the nerdy guy with his
long hair greased up into a point, Ed Grimley? In the photo Despres
looks like Grimley's evil half-brother.
So we have a clean-cut citizen with a shortwave radio who is questioned
at the border and is followed most of the way home by a state police
car.
Then we have an obvious weirdo with all sorts of sharp weapons and a
bloody-looking chainsaw who's just sent on his way.
Apparently swords, knives, hatchets, bullet-proof vests, brass knuckles,
and even chainsaws aren't potential instruments of terrorism. But a
radio?
That's the PITs, pal.
=============================================================
NOTICE: Unless indicated otherwise, all articles by Anti-Press.
Articles submitted by others do not necessarily express or reflect the
opinions or beliefs of Anti-Press.
WHERE WE'RE AT: Anti-Press Ezine radiates from our Precision Reality
Center. We're presently entrapped in the alleged city of Plattsburgh,
northeastern New York State (NENYland), USA. ("YOUR MOTHER WILL BURN IN
HELL!" "WELL, YOUR MOTHER AND SISTER WILL BURN IN HELL!" "YOUR PERVERT
PRIEST WILL BURN IN HELL!" "OH, YEAH? YOUR CHICKENS WILL BURN IN HELL!"
[Repeat with variations, ad nauseam. Note when you win the argument
and positive change has been made.] )
EMAIL: Antipress1@aol.com
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