Chronicles of the "Porta-Potty War" (Patriots Rally for America

Once upon a time, the D.C. Chapter of Free Republic decided to hold a rally so patriotic men and women could take a stand for all that is good about America and to support our troops fighting for us in the war on terrorism.

The organizers decided that there must be porta-potties available for use by the event staff and all those courageous individuals who dared to gather together in the midst of the anti-war, anti-American masses bused in to cause disruption to our nation’s Capitol. And so, the story unfolds:

The stage was delivered at 5:30 a.m. to be greeted by faithful FReepers who didn’t get much sleep. At 7 a.m. the sound crew arrived to set up the magnificent speaker system that could reach out 8 blocks or more. Busy FReeper volunteers showed up early to set up tents, tables, chairs and organize supplies.

Jiffy Johns was on time and delivered six regular and one handicapped porta-potty, all in pristine condition. The FReepers busily placed placards on them for PATRIOTS -- 3 for Men and 3 for Women, with one specially equipped for the handicapped. There was even special attention given to provide a bucket for the opposition labeled, "Commie Commode and Bath." Were they grateful? Nooooooooooooooooo!

We sensed a problem with our porta-potty location almost immediately. While our group was steadily arriving, the ANSWER buses were beginning to pull up near 16th Street -- one block away from the Patriots Rally. Unfortunately, most people after a long trip in a car or bus need to visit restrooms pretty quick and a helpful police officer pointed out our porta-potties.

Needless to say, the rush was on and we realized we would have to fend them off or our porta-potties would be at capacity before our rally even began. We tried to move the porta-potties back from the street, but it was too difficult and we ended up moving enough to make a 90 degree angle L shape that was easier to defend. The doors were definitely on the wrong side -- facing the sidewalk and street.

We were polite, but adamant, that attendees of the other rallies could not use our facilities. We were told that they were patriots, too, and they had a right to use our porta-potties because they were on public land. When we pointed to the ones provided by ANSWER directly across the street and about 3 times as many as we rented, the others would sometimes get agitated and belligerent about our refusal to let them use the potties.

The excuses were many, varied and quite astonishing. One person said they had a medical condition, unpronounceable, of course, and we should let them in -- they also had assistants with video cameras filming their attempts to get past the porta-potty FReepers on duty.

We had some real concerns about safety, sanitation and damage control regarding people from the violence- and vandal-prone leftists, who had brought their reputations from demonstrations/protests in Seattle, San Francisco, New York and D.C., being allowed to use facilities for which we had paid and for which we were responsible. There had even been reports circulating that people were roaming about the anti-war rallies with pipe bombs in their backpacks.

Principles don’t mean much to those on the left. The hoards of bused-in attendees for the anti-war, pro-Palestinian rally didn’t care about the facts that we had a valid permit which they were trespassing on or that we had paid our own hard-earned dollars to provide porta-potties for our rally guests. They came expecting everything for free -- no, they actually demanded to use our porta-potties rather than walk across the street to the ones provided for them.

Sad to say, we allowed some of those with hard-luck stories, children and elderly to use the facilities and found that they abused the privilege by urinating on the seats, throwing garbage and bottles in to reduce capacity, tearing off toilet paper and sticking it everywhere, and rendering the only handicapped station we had useless and distasteful by urinating on the TP, seat and floor.

The porta-potty war continued throughout the afternoon. There were deliberate and concerted attacks by the leftists. Many of us took turns manning the front lines in the porta-potty duty. Some who had been turned away sent others to test our fortitude. A camera crew stopped to record the doings at the front. Great, huh, here we had a great line-up of speakers to inspire our patriotic spirit and the camera crew thought it was more important to film the dispute at the porta-potties. So I gave him an earful and all the reasons why we had the right to limit their use of our rental property paid for out of our own pockets.

When the leftists started to surge on our lines and rumors of an imminent rush began, the Park Police pulled in reinforcements along our perimeters and brought in the mounted police and their magnificent horses. Soon, things got better. The police deterred any thought of overrunning the Patriots Rally for America and they formed a barrier which protected the porta-potties.

The ANSWER leftists finally left to march through the streets of D.C., a light rain started to fall and soon we were ending our rally and beginning to clean up. Porta-potty duty slacked off as people began to gather their belongings and go home. The organizers had to wait for the rental companies and their crews to pick up their equipment. So, we set up chairs and finally sat down to rest and recap the day.

Stragglers or people returning from the various marches began to again appear and make a beeline for our porta-potties. Oh, I forgot to mention that those on the other side of the street disappeared somewhere around 2 p.m. never to be seen again.

I did have the satisfaction after the rally of seeing two Arab women leave the handicapped porta-potty looking down at their hands and rubbing them vigorously with a look of disgust on their faces. They must have used the urine-soaked toilet paper. (icky-poo - SMILE).

An Arab woman stopped to use our facilities and left her young sons outside. They ran through the middle of our group who were sitting in chairs and over to the tables that still had supplies stacked on them. They saw all the great flags and wanted to buy one (we can only surmise what for) and we emphatically told them the flags were not for sale. On their way back, Kristinn called out, “Don’t grow up to be suicide bombers.” One of the smart-aleck kids yelled back, “I think I will and I’ll come back and kill you.” Enough is enough. I followed them back and told their negligent mother what her children said. As I left, she was still asking them, “What did you say, what did you tell those people?”

The stage crew was back on-site breaking down the stage and equipment. The crew chief had some extra strong plastic ties that he offered to us to lock down the porta-potties. We accepted and locked them up only to have some of the stage crew unlock two again. We finally got them locked and turned door to door.

Following are comments posted on the Patriots Rally Live Thread by many of those who withstood the attacks during the “Porta-Potty War.” I hope others will add their war stories to this thread.

The Patriots Rally was under constant assault from beginning to end with commies and leftists trying to infiltrate and stir up trouble. The toilet for the handicapped was ruined for use because some commie urinated all over the toilet-paper and the stall. Other toilets had bottles and other garbage thrown in them so as to cause them to reach capacity early so they could not be used.

Being that we paid for the rental of the seven toilets for the use by Patriots Rally attendees, we barred those from the other rallies from using them--with exceptions made for small children and the elderly. The pro-terrorist rally across the street at the Ellipse had plenty of porta-potties, but the commies kept crossing the street to try to "use" ours. While it may seem petty to control access to the toilets, it was a necessary security function. With great magnanimity on our part, we did provide a bucket for them to use labeled "Commie Commode and Bath". They declined our generous effort to accommodate their needs, however. (Posted by kristinn)

Around 1015 the crowd was continuing to grow, with some spill over from the Peacenik/anarchist nitwits. Dave reports that it was the port-o-potties that attracted them. But our fearless FReepers labelled the doors "Patriots" and Patriot Women". It seems to be turning them away. (Posted by Mustang)

The D.C. Chapter rented them for our use. The city did not provide them. The unwashed had at least triple the number on their side of Constitution Ave. The problems began well before the start of the rally. For goodness sake, the porta pottie guy had just unloaded the first two (with the rest still on the truck) and all these busses pulled up and unloaded the unwashed. They made a bee-line for the johns. As we had paid for them, and they had their own we simply told them to walk another 100 yards across the street. The word got out over there and they must have decided that the johns were our "center of gravity" and attacked from all sides;-) There was no way we were going let them trash the porta-potties we paid for and no way we were going to let our people stand in line behind the unwashed. Little did we know early in the morning that the johns would become a "frontline for freedom". Go figure...(Posted by Dave Dilegge)

The crowd continues to grow. Possible up to 500. The radical hecklers continue to mill around the fringes with signs of "brilliance" such as "HEMP" and rag-head wannabes waving Palestinian flags. Dave reports that the biggest attraction for the radicals is our port-o-potties. Dave also attempted to get near some of these nitwits, but reported "they really smelled" and had to back off. (Posted by Mustang)

The 'port-a-potties' war was pretty interesting. There were about five or six of us trying to restrict access to the 'port-a-potties' that had been paid for out of pocket by Patriot Rally organizers, and we had legitimate fears that they would be vandalized by the knuckle-dragging, unwashed communists across the street. It got nuts around noon, as it became evident that ones who had been turned away were sending ten times their number back across the street to harrass us. It was like trying to manage an out-of-control ant colony; they were swarming EVERYWHERE! Their next tactic was to bring along their pro-terrorist buddies in the college media; to take pictures of those "heartless conservatives" denying access to our port-a-potties. (I suggest they have Ramsey Clark and PFAW pony up some more cash for more of their OWN port-a-potties at their next rally.) As a result, I missed a number of the speeches I had driven six hours to hear. Oh, well...

One of the best bits was with a forty-ish unshaven blond who tried to push by me to get into a port-a-potty. She kept screaming that we were on "public property". That we were, but the potties were "private property"; and she wasn't getting access. She kept screaming that "she had to PEE", and that she had the RIGHT to use our port-a-potty, because it was "public property". I fanned my arm around; indicating that there was PLENTY of "public property" around for her to 'pee' on, and that, as a 'taxpayer', she was welcome to use it. I thought for a moment she was going to go for it, and I was cursing myself for leaving my camera with my wife. However, she turned away with a curse that so typifies the left, and she returned to her unwashed brethren. Hysterical.

No question about it. When these people got in my face during the 'port-a-potty' wars, you could SEE the hate in their eyes, and HEAR it in their voice. At one point, around one or so, the word got out to "get the women out of here, because a riot was about to break out". Several ladies started to gather their things, but then several black vans pulled up, and armor-clad SWAT teams poured into the street. Any threat of a 'riot' was QUICKLY neutralized by their presence. ("Yay, Washington Police!!!") (Posted by who knows what evil?)

Yup, my sign was the Icehouse beer slogan. I thought my other one was even wittier - "This sign killed a tree." It got a lot of laughs. One of the leftists trying to barge in on the portapotties mistakenly thought I was on his side, and started treating me like a buddy. When he asked "where you from man," I replied "America.". . . Oh, you should have seen the look of stupidity on his face. It was priceless. (Posted by YourAdHere)

LOL! Port-o-potties....it's the perfect symbol! Judging by reports of their smelliness and general uncleanness....their PoPs were probably really rank. Did you tell the anti-American protestors that capitalist ingenuity and $$$ provided the potties and that it's all part of the evil American plan...to bring plumbing and cleanliness to the barbarians...(^: (Posted by Ragtime Cowgirl)

They (them) were really messing up the potties. Evidently, they were pi--- urinating all over the seats. These were as big, clean, nice portapotties as you could get, but these guys messed them up. There was one in particular that was attacked early in the day. I was told not to use it as they had paper all over the place, and tried to clog it up. (maybe they didn't know hot to use it?? HeeHee!) (Posted by Exit148)

labelled the doors "Patriots" and Patriot Women". . . LOL! That sure would keep the little nazis out. (Posted by Bigg Red)

There is something so archetypical about leftist misfits massing together for a group tantrum and then wanting to use the conservative's private porta-potties. (Posted by Cultural Jihad)

HeeHee! The 'portapottie wars' continued long after the rally broke up, and Angelwood finally put locks on the doors. It really was funny to see them protected by the 'calvery police' during the height of the 'war'!! (Posted by Exit148)

And our hatred will result in thousands of innocents being killed...

OUR hatred? PUH-LEEEEZE! In my humble opinion; Freepers exhibited GREAT RESTRAINT when you consider the overwhelming amount of verbal, psychological and sometimes physical abuse heaped upon them by the left during the course of the day. Check out Dave's picture at post #108. You won't see any Freepers standing on Palestinian flags or Hezbollah flags. It's a crying shame no one got a picture of the huge Communist flag paraded through our midst at the rally. How about a picture of the LAUGHING college students who had their picture taken with FR's photo collage of the collapse of the World Trade Center? Oh, well, they said. "We deserved it", they said. These incidents were designed to PROVOKE a reaction, and I am PROUD to say they didn't get one. If certain 'Freepers' are upset because THEY perceive someone may have made an unflattering comment about a protester, you should be ashamed of yourself. In view of the constant harrassment; the protesters got off light.

Boy, I'll say!

I had to forcibly remove myself from the presence of a particularly potty-mouthed young lady who was yelling what, in my youth (and in my dotage, too!) are fighting words. IOW, if you are inclined to tell me to perform an anatomically impossible feat on myself, I am likely to take very strong offense and react physically!

If I were not an Officer and a Gentleman (and a DC FReeper!), I would have punched her, with great gusto, in her potty-mouth. She was later removed from the crowd (sad to say, not in cuffs) by the Park Police -- Yea Park Police!

Not to mention the sniveling coward about my age who was loudly proclaiming his "right" to disrupt our rally, all the while carrying his two-year old granddaughter in his arms. He, had I not also forcibly removed myself from his presence (i.e., I told him to shut up and leave and then turned my back on him), would have had one or two painful reminders of his disruptive anti-social manners, also!

First off, let me say that my reaction to the post is in part due personal knowledge of Arab friends of exemplary character and patriotism who have endured much unwarranted abuse since 9/11.

To Angelwood, who knows what evil, and Dave Dilegge:

Thank you for the pointed replies. I wish I had been there. I applaud your efforts in organizing the Patriots Rally for America. I applaud the time you invested to get across a conservative viewpoint. And I especially applaud your defense of the porta-potties. I would have seriously enjoyed trying to repel bowel-challenged hippie dudes. Will this event be remembered as "The Battle of the Bile" or "Dung-kirk"?

Unfortunately, your description of the Arab women and children did not include anything objectionable. This does not mean that there was not just cause on your part, simply that what I have read did not give ample evidence. Your original post did not indicate that the children were out of control, but were merely running around. Not the same thing.

I was probably off base in assuming that you had flags for sale. Being good capitalists, selling merchandise is fairly common at these rallies, but you didn't state as such, so I was wrong in concluding it. Still, I don't think the kids were out of line asking and at least they weren't trying to steal them.

There is nothing un-American about Palestinians showing support for Palestinians just as there is nothing un-American about Irish showing support for Ireland. If the Arabs had signs stating support for a free Palestine, then I believe you were out of line. If they were caring signs showing support for Osama Bin Laden, well that's something else entirely and you were well within your rights. I would be interested in hearing exactly what the signs stated.

I do not believe that the Mid-East conflict can be nicely divided into pure good and evil. I know this will set me on the outs with some of you. So be it.

I would like to apologize for making any brash conclusions about you. I'm sure you are good people. But as good people you should be reaching out to these kids to show them a different side of America than the one they may be getting. If they are getting a negative at home, your 'terrorist' remarks only serve to re-enforcing that negative message. If they are getting a positive message at home, then your 'terrorist' remarks have a negating contradictory affect.

It is absolutely tough always being the good guy. Remember, just because you endured hours upon hours of hatred and harassment, does not justify even one minute of hatred and harassment coming from you. No matter how good it feels. This is what separates us from the liberal chaff.

To tomcat:

You are despicable. How dare you use a photo of a complete stranger’s final tragic moment to further your own agenda. Apparently you are incapable of composing words to present your own viewpoint.

To so called ProudEagle:

Roll back over and go back to sleep. I suspect you slept through many of this country's conflicts while others kept vigil and spilled blood for you.

Talk about rash assumptions. Come, view my father’s medals from the Pacific and lets talk about keeping vigil. Come, walk with me to the grave of my brother and let’s discuss the spilling of blood in sacrifice.

I will not sleep. I will remain vigilant in protecting America from those, like you, who would tarnish her honor.

I was so proud of you! You may be short in size, but as I said, dynamite comes in small packages, meaning that just because we may be small in physical size or small in numbers, does not mean we can not move "mountains"!

When the call for the women to leave because of the threat of the unwashed came, I was very concerned for my daughter's safety. She looked at me and told me she was a Patriot too and was not going anywhere! There and then I had more pride in her than I can relay. It will take every man, woman and child in America to win the war on terrorism! Not just physical, but also the propaganda and rhetoric wars.

I was so pleased to be a part of this rally and look forward to many more. I am grateful that no harm came to anyone because of the police, but also for the maturity of the rally folks as well. The unwashed pushed every button I had for sure, and I must say I am rather proud of myself for staying as calm as I did (which for me was calm!).

Come, view my father’s medals from the Pacific and lets talk about keeping vigil. Come, walk with me to the grave of my brother and let’s discuss the spilling of blood in sacrifice.

No need, and hats off to members of your family. At least someone in your family understood Duty, Honor, Country. I notice your own service is missing. I've already done my time 30 years ago and got some shiny tin for my chest too. So nice try, but stick to the subject.

None of the above matters if people like you are going to continue to be gullible. I'm so impressed, wow you have a couple of Arab friends! What a cop out. You think a couple of Arab friends qualifies the fact they alone represent a peaceful people?? Must be nice to live in your fantasy world. Long story short. My mom's a Brit, she watch ignorance and appeasement too many years ago. Mark my words, we either fight them now or we'll damn sure fight them later. These people do not wish for peace. They have an agenda and it involves the elimination of you and I.

As far as I'm concerned, until the Arab world and people have the guts to stand up and condemn what is happening worldwide, until they condemn the hijacking of a religion in the furtherance of political cause, until they condemn their own fellow citizens and apologize as a people for the slaughter of 2,885 citizens and attack on this country, then they are no better than the filthy animals in the Nazi movement that grew many years ago. Evil is evil. If one does not disassociate themselves from it, then they are a part of it. Now, go have tea with your Arab friends and stick your head back in the sand. And don't worry, there are men who are following your fathers, brothers and my legacy keeping you safe in order for you to live in your dreamworld. Adios, your teary eyed drivel and Neville Chamberlain attitude are beginning to bore me.

Unfortunately, your description of the Arab women and children did not include anything objectionable

I beg your pardon, where do I describe Arab women and children in any of my posts?

I would be interested in hearing exactly what the signs stated.

Do your own homework at Independent Media Center - D.C. (upper left corner - newswire - scroll through the pages)- you might feel differently after looking at the pictures. Pay special attention to the photos of adults carrying around pre-schoolers in coffins. Take at look at the hatred displayed on so many signs, in gestures and especially on the faces - hatred directed at our country and our citizens. You seem to not have a grasp on reality here. There were 400 of us right smack in the middle of this sea of waste. These are people who are advocating the overthrow of our government and condone the terrorist attacks on 9.11, the U.S. Embassies in Africa, the USS Cole, the USAF barracks in Daharan..... I lost some good friends and fellow Marines in 1983 when they bombed the barracks at airport in Beirut. Col. Rich Higgins, a Marine, who has kidnapped then hanged by these scum in 1988 while on a UN mission was one of my first mentors in the Corps. My cousin, PFC Robert Nesbit, USMC, was killed in Vietnam in 1968 while saving the rest of his squad. He had a football scholarship to college but opted to serve his country. Now how would you feel seeing these people display terrorist and communist flags - while burning and troding on our flag? I still held my composure on Saturday. Could you do the same my friend?

Emotional reply - has is was and Robert is Roger - Robert is his father. That said, here is what I wrote the Wash. Times last night:

The blatant propaganda expressed via press conferences and releases leading up to last Saturday’s “antiwar”, pro-Palestinian, and anti-everything U.S. and Israel rallies and marches in the nation’s capitol proved to be just that (bold-faced lies) as events unfolded on April 20th.

In contrast, 400 law-abiding citizens gathered at the same time at the Washington Monument to show support of our nation’s war on terrorism and for our servicemen and women prosecuting this war. This event, the Patriots Rally For America was co-sponsored by the D.C. Chapter of Free Republic and Rally For America. The organizers secured a permit, rented a stage, generator, sound system and port-a-potties, with all funds coming out of the pockets of the organizers and individual supporters.

The morning of the rally, Brian Becker of Act Now to Stop War and Racism (ANSWER) claimed on C-SPAN that the Patriots Rally was completely funded by the Republican National Committee. Since the RNC has yet to issue me a check I would have to surmise that Becker, like Lenin, believes that a lie told often enough becomes the truth.

In the weeks leading up to the rally the anti-American and anti-Israel crowd whined about the supposed government suppression of their First Amendment rights. I found it quite ironic (but expected) that on Saturday these same people made numerous attempts to deny these same rights to those that did not agree with their positions.

The “kumbaya” crowd exhibited a very violent posture and spieled hateful and obscene language towards those gathered to display the U.S. flag, listen to patriotic music and the invited speakers.

They “trashed” the sole handicapped port-a-pottie early in the day beyond future use and then demanded access to the rest throughout the afternoon. When denied future use of this private property and directed a mere 100 yards across Constitution Avenue to the 50 ANSWER “johns” on the Eclipse, the pro-American crowd was subjected to accusations of racism, fascism, and ad-nausea-ism. Somehow, the idea of private citizens paying out-of-pocket for the health and comfort of those who came to peacefully assemble was more than they could bear.

Throughout the day the Patriots Rally was subjected to hecklers and agitators. All we asked of them was not to display anti-American, obscene, or racist signs, flags and banners and to listen – not orate - as the rest of the attendees were. After all, they had the rest of the city to espouse whatever sundry cause of the day that struck them as important enough to disrupt the daily lives of normal Americans. Somehow they just did not get the concept that we had the same rights for peaceful assembly as they did.

I guess that is what they mean by “just give peace a chance.” Thank goodness for the professionalism of the U.S. Park Service Police and for the pro-U.S. crowd’s decorum and restraint in not letting the situation escalate beyond control.

Dave Dilegge
Rally4America.org
Stafford, VA

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