This is from my aforementioned born again friend who has been barraging me with this overly religious and hyper patriotic crap since 9-11. So much of it is either hateful and/or full of lies (though never original thought). The other day he sent me an apparent claim from someone (no name) claiming to have attended an event I volunteered for. I did my best to objectively debunk this claim ... and I got plenty of response. I'll post just them:
Original message
John Kerry brought his "front porch meeting" to our Canonsburg, PA
neighborhood on Labor Day morning. Since you will never hear the
truth from the TV or print media I thought that you should know from
someone who was `almost' there. The residents who live on the street where the event took place were not allowed to attend.
Kerry shipped in approximately 90 invitation only VIPs. In addition,
there was a hard luck case who was about to lose her job at USAIR and another was an elderly woman who was having health care problems.
Neither one was from this neighborhood. The street was closed to all
traffic the night before and all residents on the street were REQUIRED to remove their Bush/Cheney signs. The sympathetic police officers on duty told us that Kerry used "imminent domain" to claim the street for his purposes. Residents who have homes within the perimeter (approximately 1 full block) were kept behind a line away from the partisan crowd. The rest of us were not allowed within the 1 block cordon. A neighbor from across the street came to the line where we were being kept and asked us to come onto his property.. The police told us that we could stand on this mans FORMERLY private property! This was set up so that Kerry's views could be heard - but not the neighbors.
About 30 peoples (mostly neighbors) shouts echoed down the street.......... "Let the neighbors in". We could barely hear Kerry
speaking with his microphone because press buses were used to block
us off from view! This morning's papers are reporting hecklers tried
to interrupt Kerry as he spoke to the neighborhood gathering, but he
turned our chants to his favor by calling us rude. Even though most of the media was there to record our stories of not being included in the neighborhood forum, not one of them printed or aired the truth. This is what America will look like if Kerry becomes president.
Get registered and get all of your friends registered to vote if they have not already. Kerry thinks that he is better than the rest of us and he has the media on his side to make him out to be what he is not! Finally, last night as I drove down the street where the rally was, I was shocked to see Bush/Cheney signs in almost every yard on the street! Please send this e-mail! on to as many people as you can.
LET FREEDOM RING!
_____________________________________________________________________
My response:
I find this is very interesting as I was in Canonsburg that day. I was a volunteer as I have been for every democratic event involved in this campaign. I was responsible for signing in media first, then checking the tickets of this invite only event. The residents were absolutely allowed in ... not to the main staging area, but in the enclosure. The invited were members of the community, not just that neighborhood - and of course they were selected. If you honestly don't believe that a certain amount of choreography is necessary for democratic and republican campaigning, you are sorely in need of a reality check. This isn't a free-for-all. There were Bush supporters inside as well, who made their presence very known. A group of them were sitting in their yard drinking beer and heckling Kerry, attempting to shout over what was being said... and did so without reprimand. Look in any Pittsburgh paper and you'll see direct reference to this fact. You'll also find a photo of the women who stood respectfully with their Bush banner directly across from the stage in the Post-Gazette. I find this statement very ironic, as no one has been turned away from a Kerry event. Bush, on the other hand, has held a number of invite only events and makes his devotees sign "loyalty oaths" at all rallies. Dissension is not permitted. In Oregon, three school teachers were expelled from a rally for wearing t-shirts simply stating "Protect our civil liberties". A woman was removed from another for saying "No" to Dick Cheney. A woman was arrested in New Jersey for daring to ask Laura Bush why her son died. I bet you aren't questioning GW ... but maybe you should.
If you insist on sending me lies and propaganda, kindly consider your own candidate's position and actions.
_____________________________________________________________________
Some woman on this list of recipients (of 62, I believe), sent this:
I got your email as a global response to this one, please remember as you said propaganda is everywhere. Unless you have hard facts about Bush's so called "loyalty oaths" and who was thrown out from his rallies, do not talk of them.
>
>Kindly consider your own candidates position and actions and how they go against the teachings of God, then talk to me about Propaganda!
_____________________________________________________________________
I sent this back to all:
Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to ask the questions that I have dying to ask... Why is it wrong to "kill" (your term, not mine) unborn children, but perfectly justifiable to not only support the death penalty, but the governor who put the largest number of human beings to death during his term? And abortion is "wrong" for any reason, but war is right - killing not only men but women and yes, CHILDREN? And why does a fetus ... ooops, I mean "baby" have a greater right to life than the mother? You don't want abortion, but what are you personally doing to educate people or to care for sick, deformed and addicted babies? You spout your sanctimonious self-righteous rhetoric not even recognizing the inherent hypocrisy of your stance. I guess that is why they call it "blind faith".
As for proof of "loyalty oaths", and the experiences of those thrown out of Bush events ... you don't have to look far. I'll gladly provide you with quotes and sources, but it seems clear that you aren't particularly interested in facts. I look forward to your clarification of views.
This is for _____ ... these are my "hard facts". I can and do back up my claims. Oh, I do believe you are quoting me here ... (I'm not sure): "please remember as you said 'propaganda is everywhere'". Could you please include the context or use my exact words, because I never said this and am not sure where it is coming from. Thanks.
Articles about the soldier's mother:
http://www.independent-media.tv/item.cfm?fmedia_id=8988&fcategory_desc=Under%20Reportedhttp://www.cnn.com/2004/US/09/17/bush.protester/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/17/politics/main644005.shtmlhttp://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-09-16-laura-bush-speech_x.htmArticles about the teachers:
http://www.bend.com/news/ar_view%5E3Far_id%5E3D18712.htmhttp://www.irlnet.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t4073.htmlhttp://www.registerguard.com/news/2004/10/13/a1.whosefreespeech.1013.htmlhttp://www.democratherald.com/articles/2004/10/18/news/oregon/state03.txtLoyalty oaths:
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2004410160329http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2004/07/30/news/wyoming/63b4fcb928fe8e6987256ee10054e715.txthttp://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2004080209.htmlhttp://www.abqjournal.com/elex/204620elex07-30-04.htmhttp://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/08/09/bush_backers_only_policy_riles_voters_at_rnc_rallies/_____________________________________________________________________
More to come!
On edit - I should mention that, though I was warned that the "righties" would be all over me, I haven't gotten a response yet from this woman.
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