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Saturday, March 12, 2005
Monkey King Monologue, Part One
Well, I survived. I'm still here, and I wasn't brainwashed or turned into a Republican clone. But I don't think I'll be in any great hurry to attend another Republican function again anytime soon, Monkey King or no.
I began my day on Thursday by standing on a street corner in downtown Louisville holding a sign protesting Bush's Social Security agenda. From 7:30 until around 9 am my friends and I braved the cold wind coming up from the Ohio River and were warmed only by the honks of like-minded Louisvillians on their way to work. A few pedestrians even stopped to say "thank you" as they passed by, including one gentleman whose parents were Canadian, and who told us that for him to return now to Canada would take about 6 months. Apparently it's not as easy to go to Canada as it used to be, even if you're Canadian!
Around 9:15 am we headed up to the Kentucky Center for the Arts, where the Monkey King would be speaking. There was already a long line, and we soon learned that there were different colored tickets - gold, red, and blue. A young Repub came out every few minutes to gather the golds and whisk them away. But the line moved fairly quickly, so it wasn't too bad. Some of my friends going in were planning to stand up and say something, but I was going to abstain. First of all, I just didn't feel like getting arrested for civil disobedience, especially in a day and age where people are arrested and never heard from again....Second, intuition told me that there weren't enough dissenters on the inside to make a difference. Third, I was curious enough to want to see firsthand, up close and personal, just how the Monkey King was going to spin his web of deceit. (There's always a kind of fascination with the perverse, isnt' there? It's kind of the same thing with serial killers. They're horrible people, they do dastardly things, but for some reason they hold a morbid fascination for you - like Jack the Ripper and Ted Bundy.)
Standing in line with so many Republicans was a real trip. The first thing that annoyed me was the people behind us making fun of Bill and Hillary Clinton. We were biting our tongues, but I finally had to make a "loud-enough-to-hear" comment about people living spiritual lives and how people who were mean-spirited and gossiped about others or made fun of people weren't acting like Christians. Of course, it went right over their heads - they were CLUELESS. Republicans just don't think any of this stuff applies to THEM.
Finally we got to the doors and went inside. Of course, I would be the one who "beeped" going through the metal detector. I had put my keys in the basket, and my purse on the belt moving through the scanner, but I still beeped. So I was "hand scanned" and my ankles "felt up". That's right. They felt my ankles. They never asked me to empty the pockets of my jacket, which are quite large, but they felt the need to feel my ankles up. Perhaps the guy had an ankle "partialism", who knows. As long as they didn't make me take off my underwire bra or check my underwear, I could handle it.
There were two doors marked, of course, "gold tickets" and "red tickets"; the "blue tickets" sign was over by the stairway leading to the nosebleed section, but that was ok. Debbie and I said goodbye to Carol and proceeded to go upstairs where we met another Progressive on her way to the same section we were. I got to sit in one of the box seats (I won't say why....) and eventually they let Debbie come over to sit by me, but not Amy, even though she asked at least three times. There were only three seats there, so it was me, Debbie, and an usher - an old man that had to be at least 75 if he was a day. To my right was a Secret Service agent. We couldn't have shouted anything if we had wanted to....
Once seated, I immediately took out my pen and paper, as I had determined that I was going to take notes from beginning to end. I was particularly interested in how Bush was going to frame his message, and I was hoping that we would get to ask some questions. But it wasn't to be that kind of "forum". In fact, it wasn't a forum at all.
I think some of the "gold ticket" holders were who was seated on stage, but there were bleachers directly behind, and to the left and right of a semi-circle of 5 chairs with a sheet holder off-center of the middle chair (like the kind that holds music for orchestra musicians, only bigger.) I guessed that this was for Bush's notes.
While we waited for the Monkey King to arrive we were entertained by some Christian singers, Christian music, and Terry Miners. He's a local Republican ass-kisser who came out and made fun of Dan Rather and Peter Jennings. I must say that I am truly amazed at how much Republicans make fun of other people. The word "jerk" comes to mind, and visions of the school-yard bully. So here are all these people dressed to the nines, many with kids in tow (yes, I was also surprised at how many parents had pulled their kids out of school to attend this event - but I was also impressed at how well most of the kids behaved. That is, no running around, no whining, none of the usual stuff you usually see kids doing, I have to admit), but many of them were acting like ill-mannered kids themselves. No wonder that their own kids will probably grow up just like them. Hateful, hateful, hateful. I just had to shake my head at some of the stuff I heard.
Finally the Brownies came out and we said the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by a singer from St. Stevens. There's history here, too. Republican Congresswoman Anne Northup gave huge amounts of money to this African-American church right before her re-election.... That's her modus operendi - buy the Black vote. She's been so successful at it that she even managed to buy a Black Metrocouncilwoman this last time around. The public and televised support of this Black Metrocouncilwoman got her a $75,000 job - created JUST FOR HER. Hmmm. But that's another story.
Stay tuned for Part Two of the Monkey King Monologue....where I'll talk about how these "town hall" meetings REALLY go....
Patriot Gal
Remember: Dissent is Patriotic!
I began my day on Thursday by standing on a street corner in downtown Louisville holding a sign protesting Bush's Social Security agenda. From 7:30 until around 9 am my friends and I braved the cold wind coming up from the Ohio River and were warmed only by the honks of like-minded Louisvillians on their way to work. A few pedestrians even stopped to say "thank you" as they passed by, including one gentleman whose parents were Canadian, and who told us that for him to return now to Canada would take about 6 months. Apparently it's not as easy to go to Canada as it used to be, even if you're Canadian!
Around 9:15 am we headed up to the Kentucky Center for the Arts, where the Monkey King would be speaking. There was already a long line, and we soon learned that there were different colored tickets - gold, red, and blue. A young Repub came out every few minutes to gather the golds and whisk them away. But the line moved fairly quickly, so it wasn't too bad. Some of my friends going in were planning to stand up and say something, but I was going to abstain. First of all, I just didn't feel like getting arrested for civil disobedience, especially in a day and age where people are arrested and never heard from again....Second, intuition told me that there weren't enough dissenters on the inside to make a difference. Third, I was curious enough to want to see firsthand, up close and personal, just how the Monkey King was going to spin his web of deceit. (There's always a kind of fascination with the perverse, isnt' there? It's kind of the same thing with serial killers. They're horrible people, they do dastardly things, but for some reason they hold a morbid fascination for you - like Jack the Ripper and Ted Bundy.)
Standing in line with so many Republicans was a real trip. The first thing that annoyed me was the people behind us making fun of Bill and Hillary Clinton. We were biting our tongues, but I finally had to make a "loud-enough-to-hear" comment about people living spiritual lives and how people who were mean-spirited and gossiped about others or made fun of people weren't acting like Christians. Of course, it went right over their heads - they were CLUELESS. Republicans just don't think any of this stuff applies to THEM.
Finally we got to the doors and went inside. Of course, I would be the one who "beeped" going through the metal detector. I had put my keys in the basket, and my purse on the belt moving through the scanner, but I still beeped. So I was "hand scanned" and my ankles "felt up". That's right. They felt my ankles. They never asked me to empty the pockets of my jacket, which are quite large, but they felt the need to feel my ankles up. Perhaps the guy had an ankle "partialism", who knows. As long as they didn't make me take off my underwire bra or check my underwear, I could handle it.
There were two doors marked, of course, "gold tickets" and "red tickets"; the "blue tickets" sign was over by the stairway leading to the nosebleed section, but that was ok. Debbie and I said goodbye to Carol and proceeded to go upstairs where we met another Progressive on her way to the same section we were. I got to sit in one of the box seats (I won't say why....) and eventually they let Debbie come over to sit by me, but not Amy, even though she asked at least three times. There were only three seats there, so it was me, Debbie, and an usher - an old man that had to be at least 75 if he was a day. To my right was a Secret Service agent. We couldn't have shouted anything if we had wanted to....
Once seated, I immediately took out my pen and paper, as I had determined that I was going to take notes from beginning to end. I was particularly interested in how Bush was going to frame his message, and I was hoping that we would get to ask some questions. But it wasn't to be that kind of "forum". In fact, it wasn't a forum at all.
I think some of the "gold ticket" holders were who was seated on stage, but there were bleachers directly behind, and to the left and right of a semi-circle of 5 chairs with a sheet holder off-center of the middle chair (like the kind that holds music for orchestra musicians, only bigger.) I guessed that this was for Bush's notes.
While we waited for the Monkey King to arrive we were entertained by some Christian singers, Christian music, and Terry Miners. He's a local Republican ass-kisser who came out and made fun of Dan Rather and Peter Jennings. I must say that I am truly amazed at how much Republicans make fun of other people. The word "jerk" comes to mind, and visions of the school-yard bully. So here are all these people dressed to the nines, many with kids in tow (yes, I was also surprised at how many parents had pulled their kids out of school to attend this event - but I was also impressed at how well most of the kids behaved. That is, no running around, no whining, none of the usual stuff you usually see kids doing, I have to admit), but many of them were acting like ill-mannered kids themselves. No wonder that their own kids will probably grow up just like them. Hateful, hateful, hateful. I just had to shake my head at some of the stuff I heard.
Finally the Brownies came out and we said the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by a singer from St. Stevens. There's history here, too. Republican Congresswoman Anne Northup gave huge amounts of money to this African-American church right before her re-election.... That's her modus operendi - buy the Black vote. She's been so successful at it that she even managed to buy a Black Metrocouncilwoman this last time around. The public and televised support of this Black Metrocouncilwoman got her a $75,000 job - created JUST FOR HER. Hmmm. But that's another story.
Stay tuned for Part Two of the Monkey King Monologue....where I'll talk about how these "town hall" meetings REALLY go....
Patriot Gal
Remember: Dissent is Patriotic!
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
The Monkey King Is Coming To Town
The Monkey King comes to town tomorrow, and I actually have tickets. Why? That's a good question. It all began with an email I received this past Monday where the sender was lamenting the fact that no tickets were to be found for Bush's one-act play "Town Hall Meeting on Social Security".
There's nothing I like more than a good challenge, and so I immediately set out to find some tickets. At least I was going to give it a good try.
I first called the Republican Headquarters. "No tickets here", I was told. All tickets were being dispensed through Rep. Anne Northup's (R-KY) office. So I called Northup's office. There I was told that there were no more tickets, period, and in fact, this particular volunteer said she was receiving phone calls at home all weekend.
Receiving phone calls at home? Hmm. Myself not being privvy to this person's home phone number, I "innocently" said that I presumed that tickets would be made available to ALL constituents and not just Republicans. After a slight hesitation, the woman agreed that that was true, of course. So I reminded her that I didn't know her home phone number, and where could I get tickets, or at least, could I get on a waiting list. I think she just pretended to take my name and phone number - you know how you can tell when people "pretend" they're writing down the information, but you know they can't possibly write that fast, especially when you have a name that EVERYONE asks you to spell....but they don't?
So, I called the Republican HQ back after that, just to say that it sounded like only certain people were going to get tickets, and apparently many of these were people who happened to know the home phone numbers of Republican workers. This woman literally tripped over herself trying to assure me that there were only a certain number of tickets available for the entire State, etc., etc., etc.
Fine. But I was still left with no tickets. So I then did what every red-blooded American with internet access does - I googled the event. And lo and behold, I came up with a newspaper article that said that not only would Rep. Northup's office have tickets, but Republican Headquarters and Sen. Mitch McConnell's (R-KY) office would as well. Hmm.
I had specifically asked both Northup's office and Republican HQ if McConnell's office would have tickets, and was told "no" both times. I was specifically told that Northup and a woman in her office personally "spearheaded" this event. That made sense, in a way, because Bush actually came here to stump for Northup this past fall during her election campaign - as well as his own - even if he did mispronounce her name as Northrup instead of Northup. Could we expect anything else?
Anyway, it took about a split second to figure that McConnell, being a pretty powerful Senator and married to the Secretary of Labor, to boot, just might have tickets. So I called. Lo and behold, a very nice lady told me that yes, they would have some tickets, but she didn't know how many or when they would get them, but what was my name and phone number and how many did I want?
How many did I want? I wasn't prepared for that, and for some reason "four" just popped into my head and out of my mouth. "Four", she asked? Thinking that was too many, I said, "If I can get them, but I'll take two, or even one if that's all I can get." "Just give me a number", she said, and so I said, "Four".
Mind you, I didn't have four people in mind, but I thought I could find at least three other people that would be interested in hearing what Bush had to say about the Social Security (non-) Crisis. Truthfully, the thought of just being in the same room with someone who I believe could quite possibly be the anti-Christ turns my stomach, but I am very curious by nature, and I really want to see how he spins this. I may even write a freelance article, who knows. I want to see if progressives can actually get their questions asked, and how Bush and his SS handle people who might disagree with him. Above all, I want to see how the media reports the whole shabang.
Of all the Presidents in my lifetime, who would have ever thought that it would be the one I despise the most (so far) that would be I would get to "see". Life is full of ironies, and this is a biggie.
Imagine my surprise when I received a phone call from Sen. McConnell's office this morning to tell me that my tickets were there - all four of them! I immediately called a friend of mine, who jumped at the chance to go, and figured I'd give the other two away. (I later received a phone call from my friend saying she had gone home from work sick with the flu, and won't be going - so I ended up with three extra tickets instead of two).
As it turns out, tickets to this event have been harder to give away than I ever would have thought. NO ONE, and I mean, NO ONE, wanted tickets! As it turns out, there will, of course, be a rally to protest Bush's anti-Social Security stand, and most people would rather attend that than actually be on the inside....
As if they'll get within 3 blocks. They actually think they might be able to march right up to the venue and protest, but if this is anything like Bush's other appearances, they'll be lucky if they're even in the same time zone. I say this because I've attended many rallies since 2000, and this is the MO.
But, unless I'm on the FBI's short list, I'll be on the inside, where I plan to do NO civil disobedience, unlike some people I know who also have tickets, who shall remain nameless.....
I don't feel like being arrested by the Secret Service and going to jail. Call me wimpy, I don't care. I will be a witness, but tomorrow I am not going to engage in civil disobedience on the inside. But I will KNOW. I will be able to observe first-hand what goes on in these meetings, how biased or not they are, etc. And I will also know how the media in my town report - and just how biased or not, truthful or not, they are. And to me, that's worth having to sit there listening to him tell one lie after another with that smirky, chimpy, shit-eating grin on his arrogant face.
I want to get in early to get a good seat, but I don't want to shake his hand, so I hope he doesn't offer it. He might have cooties. Or worse.
I just had an awful thought. What if they somehow practice some kind of mind control and we all come out Republicans! Agghh!
To protect myself, I've come up with a list: Don't shake his hand; don't drink the water; don't eat any food if offered; don't look anyone directly in the eyes; and don't breathe the air. Okay, that last one might be a little hard to do, but I'll just try not to breathe too deeply....
I'll let you know what happens.
There's nothing I like more than a good challenge, and so I immediately set out to find some tickets. At least I was going to give it a good try.
I first called the Republican Headquarters. "No tickets here", I was told. All tickets were being dispensed through Rep. Anne Northup's (R-KY) office. So I called Northup's office. There I was told that there were no more tickets, period, and in fact, this particular volunteer said she was receiving phone calls at home all weekend.
Receiving phone calls at home? Hmm. Myself not being privvy to this person's home phone number, I "innocently" said that I presumed that tickets would be made available to ALL constituents and not just Republicans. After a slight hesitation, the woman agreed that that was true, of course. So I reminded her that I didn't know her home phone number, and where could I get tickets, or at least, could I get on a waiting list. I think she just pretended to take my name and phone number - you know how you can tell when people "pretend" they're writing down the information, but you know they can't possibly write that fast, especially when you have a name that EVERYONE asks you to spell....but they don't?
So, I called the Republican HQ back after that, just to say that it sounded like only certain people were going to get tickets, and apparently many of these were people who happened to know the home phone numbers of Republican workers. This woman literally tripped over herself trying to assure me that there were only a certain number of tickets available for the entire State, etc., etc., etc.
Fine. But I was still left with no tickets. So I then did what every red-blooded American with internet access does - I googled the event. And lo and behold, I came up with a newspaper article that said that not only would Rep. Northup's office have tickets, but Republican Headquarters and Sen. Mitch McConnell's (R-KY) office would as well. Hmm.
I had specifically asked both Northup's office and Republican HQ if McConnell's office would have tickets, and was told "no" both times. I was specifically told that Northup and a woman in her office personally "spearheaded" this event. That made sense, in a way, because Bush actually came here to stump for Northup this past fall during her election campaign - as well as his own - even if he did mispronounce her name as Northrup instead of Northup. Could we expect anything else?
Anyway, it took about a split second to figure that McConnell, being a pretty powerful Senator and married to the Secretary of Labor, to boot, just might have tickets. So I called. Lo and behold, a very nice lady told me that yes, they would have some tickets, but she didn't know how many or when they would get them, but what was my name and phone number and how many did I want?
How many did I want? I wasn't prepared for that, and for some reason "four" just popped into my head and out of my mouth. "Four", she asked? Thinking that was too many, I said, "If I can get them, but I'll take two, or even one if that's all I can get." "Just give me a number", she said, and so I said, "Four".
Mind you, I didn't have four people in mind, but I thought I could find at least three other people that would be interested in hearing what Bush had to say about the Social Security (non-) Crisis. Truthfully, the thought of just being in the same room with someone who I believe could quite possibly be the anti-Christ turns my stomach, but I am very curious by nature, and I really want to see how he spins this. I may even write a freelance article, who knows. I want to see if progressives can actually get their questions asked, and how Bush and his SS handle people who might disagree with him. Above all, I want to see how the media reports the whole shabang.
Of all the Presidents in my lifetime, who would have ever thought that it would be the one I despise the most (so far) that would be I would get to "see". Life is full of ironies, and this is a biggie.
Imagine my surprise when I received a phone call from Sen. McConnell's office this morning to tell me that my tickets were there - all four of them! I immediately called a friend of mine, who jumped at the chance to go, and figured I'd give the other two away. (I later received a phone call from my friend saying she had gone home from work sick with the flu, and won't be going - so I ended up with three extra tickets instead of two).
As it turns out, tickets to this event have been harder to give away than I ever would have thought. NO ONE, and I mean, NO ONE, wanted tickets! As it turns out, there will, of course, be a rally to protest Bush's anti-Social Security stand, and most people would rather attend that than actually be on the inside....
As if they'll get within 3 blocks. They actually think they might be able to march right up to the venue and protest, but if this is anything like Bush's other appearances, they'll be lucky if they're even in the same time zone. I say this because I've attended many rallies since 2000, and this is the MO.
But, unless I'm on the FBI's short list, I'll be on the inside, where I plan to do NO civil disobedience, unlike some people I know who also have tickets, who shall remain nameless.....
I don't feel like being arrested by the Secret Service and going to jail. Call me wimpy, I don't care. I will be a witness, but tomorrow I am not going to engage in civil disobedience on the inside. But I will KNOW. I will be able to observe first-hand what goes on in these meetings, how biased or not they are, etc. And I will also know how the media in my town report - and just how biased or not, truthful or not, they are. And to me, that's worth having to sit there listening to him tell one lie after another with that smirky, chimpy, shit-eating grin on his arrogant face.
I want to get in early to get a good seat, but I don't want to shake his hand, so I hope he doesn't offer it. He might have cooties. Or worse.
I just had an awful thought. What if they somehow practice some kind of mind control and we all come out Republicans! Agghh!
To protect myself, I've come up with a list: Don't shake his hand; don't drink the water; don't eat any food if offered; don't look anyone directly in the eyes; and don't breathe the air. Okay, that last one might be a little hard to do, but I'll just try not to breathe too deeply....
I'll let you know what happens.
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