AAR: "Shut Down The Army Experience Center" Fails [NYC-DC Mobilization Yields Just 200 Hippies]

Overall, this protest to “Shut Down the AEC” was a big nothing burger for the old haggard hippies. The Army Experience Center is in northeast Philadelphia and the hippies promised a max effort. It turned out to be a mouse fart. This misguided hippie protest occured Saturday May 2, 2009.

Having mobilized 31 groups from NYC to DC, promised the world 700 people, they actually delivered 200. That’s just 29% of what they promised. Of course being Soviet style revisionists, their post protest press release insisted they had 300. Either way, it’s a very poor turnout.

They got ONE news story. Fox 29, the local affiliate did a 333 word article for the website and they had less than two minutes of coverage. They got better than they gave. Three counter-demonstrators owned their rally at Saint Luke’s UCC. Our presence had them very angry. Our PA was louder than their PA and they had to listen to our “Teach In” during their “Stink In”.

I arrived about 11:00 am, 2 hours before their announced start of the march to the Army Experience Center about a mile away. Of course being communists and hippies, they fell in love with their own voices and didn’t start to march till 2 pm. JoyJoyfromNJ arrived first, followed by dirtboy who always manages to approach with out warning out of nowhere. How many 6 foot plus Ninjas are there in this world?

While I was solo for the first few minutes, what turned out to be the Church Secretary of Saint Luke’s UCC emerged from the church and started yelling at me. I ignored her and continued to display a “Shame on St Luke’s – Our Soldiers Are NOT Criminals” sign. The hippies’ plan was to deliver a “Criminal Complaint” to the Army recruiters and the Franklin Mill Mall management. After several minutes, I briefly told her, “You and your friends who plan to deliver a criminal complaint against the Soldiers can go straight to hell.” I then went back to ignoring her.

I was at the curb right in front of the church and she kept yelling, she even came as close as she could without walking across the lawn. Really frustrated she yelled out at the top of her lungs, “You’re a real mother f**ker you know that” and then decided to walk around the lawn to get closer to me. When she got within a few feet, she launched into a demand that I speak with her. I told her I don’t talk to people who use bad language and she said, “You made me walk over here” to which I replied, “I didn’t make you do anything. You have no right to my time.” That literally stunned her. It caused her to physically spasm. She went on about how the church was just asked for use of their parking lot, that the church didn’t endorse the group’s views and that the group had misrepresented themselves to the church. All of that was a lie. She said the church couldn’t back out. I said that since the group misrepresented itself, the church had a perfect right to rescind their offer. When Saint Luke’s facilitates such an awful event, their views automatically become Saint Luke’s views too.

As it turns out, she was there to open the church for the hippies well before they arrived and many went inside to avoid the drizzle. The church also allowed the group to do more than just park. The hippies used the church steps for about an hour long rally and I was told that the church pastor also spoke. I would also bet that Saint Luke’s provided refreshments

Anyway, as the church secretary was upset at being confronted with the truth, as she left, she emphatically called me a “mother f**ker” again twice, crazily grinning for the whole obscene rant. So much for the “open and accepting” Saint Luke’s UCC. Not exactly “What Jesus Would Do.”

We had some interesting moments. One of the speakers didn’t like an alternate sign I used with a moonsuit and a gas mask, “HIPPIES SMELL”. She approached bitter and angry and as I ignored her, as liberals will do when angry, she decided she had the right to put their hands on people. I turned to her and warned her that she had no right to put her hands on other people and asked a nearby peace office to explain to the now very angry hippie that they can not go around putting their hands on people. The old hippie argued with the peace officer, but ultimately she was informed that she had no right to do what she did.

JoyJoyfromNJ was harassed by a few teens that apparently were brought to the protest by their middle school teacher. Best that we ping her to give her exact account, but basically she put up with the rote talking points and the blatant attempts to provoke her with a reply of “You’re only 13 years old, what do you know?” Mainly it was Revolutionary Communist Party under the false front called World Can’t Wait. Some Vietnam Veterans Against the War cockroaches hiding under the Veterans For Peace rock because their fellow vets despise them. Code Pink, Brandywine Peace and others made token appearances. For a “coalition” of 31 groups, it was a major bust. There were even some old Bill Ayers Students For A Democratic Society (SDS) geezers present. What turned out were Chiefs, but no Indians. Leaders without followers.

There was one elderly hippie dude. All that was missing were the “love beads”. He saw us talking to the local Fox reporter and asked, “Just wanted to see if we’ll be provided equal time” to which I pointed to her jacket and the Fox logo and said, “Of course not, it’s evil Fox News and they are right wingers. Isn’t that what you always say?” She laughed, he frowned.

Of course he wasn’t looking for equal time. As I explained that Thompson Bradley who clandestinely met with a federal fugitive who tried to kill hundreds of Soldiers at Fort Dix in 1970, like the radical left moonbat he was launched into a screed that killing Soldiers was OK because we killed 3 million Vietnamese. Of course 1 million dead after the South lost and 2 million dead from Pol Pot didn’t matter to this drug addled hippie. The guy looked like we asked Central Casting for “The Last Hippie” a guy who was to the 60s what the lone Japanese Soldiers found on Pacific islands were to World War II. Bald with a knit hippie cap, dirty shorts, sandals and overall poor hygiene.

Then there was old VVAW member Patrick McCann shouting “I fought for this country.” Of course when you look at his background, he’d be hard pressed to justify “fought” in that statement. But the VVAW do what they do best, pose. Another poser RW Dennen, lost a bet about Veterans For Peace membership requirements. The guy doesn’t understand his own group’s records and regulations to the point that he now owes me a month’s pay. BTW, RW Dennen runs around in tiger stripe camo which when I asked a Navy SEAL about replied, "He must have been a real badass. We never wore those."

When they started their rally, we went all the way across the street and held a “Teach In” for the attendees and pointed out the miscreants on stage and why they were not peace protestors but traitors. Lot’s of Hate America/Blame America/Betray America folks on the program, so it took some time. The old hippies dude came out to the grass media and played “Give Peace A Chance” on a clarinet as a countermeasure, so we sang, “Give Soap a Chance”. We also thanked them for “carpooling” especially since we saw only one car pool.

Turns out these oh so self-rightous hippies ahve very frail egos. As they gave the "peace sign" we sang, "If you're stupid and you know it go like this (peace sign), if your stuipd..." The immediate past President of the Veterans For Peace couldn't take the ridicule and switched from the peace sign to a generic wave.

There were more old Vietnam Veterans Against the War freaks than their student chapter Iraq Veterans Against the War. There were exactly two IVAW members. If you calculated the average age of the march, it had to be 65 years old.

An hour late, the freak show mounted up and proceeded a mile to the Franklin Mills Mall and the AEC. Of course the top speed of a 65 year old crowd isn’t much. They pissed off a lot of locals stuck in traffic as the geezers walked a mile in 30-40 minutes. One of the local VVAW Winter Soldiers from 1970, Bill Perry didn’t join them, electing to motor over to the AEC.

They were SO slow, I had time to leisurely walk JoyJoyfromNJ back to her car, hold a debrief, see dirtboy off and get there in plenty of time before the hippies arrived at the mall. While driving over in snail paced traffic, I shared with other drivers the cause, “A trash truck spilled some hippies on the highway.” Lots of laughs.

So while I waited, I went for a drink and some popcorn about 40 yards from the AEC. You couldn’t tell there was a demo just 40 yards down the mall when they arrived. Only because I expected it did I notice it. People coming and going at the mall mainly ignored them. It caused no reaction in the Food Court.

They pissed off the teens who came to go into the AEC and the teens let the geezers know it. I even got to point out a real live communist to the teens, John Grant from VFP Chapter 31, who's constant railing about capitalism, imperialism and militarism matches the rhetoric of the Communist Party USA website.

One old hippie chick told them if they were not old enough to drink or smoke they could not go in to the AEC. I asked if their 14 year old girlfriend wanted an abortion, would she stop that? She blew a gasket.

The hippies were in the mall hallway for less than an hour. No body joined their “action”. Few people even stopped to watch, less than 30 the whole time there. Several were arrested and they complained about being in custody for 5 hours in appalling conditions. Since I know the 2nd/15th Police District building, that’s total BS.

Winter Soldier Bill Perry seemed to relive his Winter Soldier "testimony" about how he ran away from walking point without warning his unit and hid in a village doorway when a Vietnamese woman warned him of an imminent ambush.

He stayed just inside the doorway of Dave and Busters near the protest trying not to look arrestable along with another VVAW traitor.

The AEC opened 10 minutes after they left and the teens that waited them out went in.

I figure if the Philly Civil Affairs cops hadn't been there, the peaceniks probably would have gotten violent at some point.

Yep, the hippies, espcially the Brandywine Peace Community, want to fight.

The one guy came over screaming and red faced that he had a job in response to "Support the troops, get a job, pay taxes" lloked like he wanted to fight.

And of course elderly hippie guy got closer because he wanted to threaten us.

Thanks for your efforts. I searched google news for info and came up with a handful of stories including the following excerpts from a live, twitter account by GamePolitics.com - Where Politics and Video Games Collide. The writer also posted photos at Flickr.com including this one.

# Protest starting soon. My crowd estimate is maybe 100, so somewhat less than what protest organizers were hoping for. There is at least one counter protester here

# Looks like a peaceful crowd as u might expect for antiwar protesters. Generally older, average age 40+

# Philadelphia PD is on hand, both uniformed and plainclothes. They are low profile, seem to be coordinating w protest leaders

# Local Fox news crew just showed up. Crowd has swelled a bit, now about 150 here

# A bit late getting started with their rally but they are doing a sound check now... A counter protester is getting heated

# Speaker now starting. But being drowned out by counter-protesters with a very loud speaker system... Saying very bad things about protesters

# Protesters are losing battle of the speaker systems, but the counter protester seems to have left for some reason.

# Oops, I spoke too soon, he's back. 1 thing interesting about this protest, it is generally anti-war, not just against use of games.

# Now in the mall, outside the aec. About two dozen police lined up at aec entrance. Protest ldr now reading their complaint

# A few in crowd have donned plain white masks... Not sure but they seemed to come from inside the aec

# Wow, aec is really an impressive looking facility. Big comfy seating area. Looks like 15+ PC screens , half-dozen big flat screens

# Guy from protesters just took my pic because I have been on periphery taking pix. I explained that i am covering for GP

# Oops, I spoke too soon, he's back. 1 thing interesting about this protest, it is generally anti-war, not just against use of games.

Gee, ya think?

# Speaker now starting. But being drowned out by counter-protesters with a very loud speaker system... Saying very bad things about protesters # Protesters are losing battle of the speaker systems,

Hehehehe...

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