<=============================> < > < ANTI-PRESS EZINE #53 > < > <=============================> "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 NEW POLICY: WE DO NOT ACCEPT ANY UNSOLICITED ARTICLES. We will accept a letter of comment (LOC) on any topic raised in our ezine. **Maximum Length: 300 words.** Plain text format. If you don't want your email printed, please tell us. To avoid being deleted as spam: Put LOC in the subject heading. 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