Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
Here's a quick account with pics of the Pittsburgh Freep for Elain.
Several Freepers and listeners to the Jim Quinn radio show put together a quick protest at the Federal building at Grant and Liberty. We decided to meet at noon.
prisoner6 (me) arrived a bit early at 11AM complete with sign made by Daughter and #2 Son. One side read "Freedom 1776-2000 DO NOT RIP". Below was an enlarged pic of Elian being taken by the armed marshall. The other side read "Freedom and Truth are at www.freerepublic.com"
After a quick breakfast at the 10th Street Blue Cafe, I went to the Liberty side of the Federal Building and was soon joined by Freeper pietro. The two of us walked the sidewalks until just after noon when the irrepressable witchypooy arrived loaded down with signage reading "Is America REALLY FREE?", a flag she could wear in the upside down distress mode, and some other gear.
A short time later several others showed up including someone I'll call the Anonymous Freeper, along with a very well informed young man and two very pretty and ready to Freep young ladies.
In the picture below you can see our group on Grant Street. pietro is carrying my sign while The Anonymous Freeper is holding witchypooy's sign.
We really didn't get hassled by anyone with the exception of a group of young kids who drove up, angrily shouted something, then drove off like the cowards that they are. witchypooy had a run in with a senior couple and several others as she rode the trolly downtown from her home in the South Hills. The older guy told her that he was a vet and that if she didn't like the country, she should leave. I told her the next time she runs into a vet like that do tell them what I do. " You fought for our country and our Freedom and I respect you for that. Now I'm fighting for our country and our Freedom and I'd appriciate some reciprication." It works for me.
In the next picture you see us on the Liberty Avenue side of the Federal Building. It's late and I forget the fellow on the rights name, but he and I had several nice conversations as we made our walk. Behind him the two young ladies are trying to keep warm, it was VERY cold and windy! witchpooy is the one with the flag whiel the Annonymous Freeper and pietro are holding the signs.
The whole time we were there LOTS of people waved, honked their horns or gave us the thumbs up in approval. If it hadn't been the Easter weekend and such misirable weather, I'm sure we would have had a lot more in our group. Several bus drivers waved and even a PIttsburgh motorcycle cop stopped to talk to us, not to harrass us but to let us know that he agreed with us. He even volunteered to come down with his wife and join us after his shift was over, but I wasn't sure how long we'd last. I did give him the Free Republic web address and he was very interested. I wouldn't be surprised if he is Freeping right now!
We got excited when a FOX news truck rolled up and a camera man got out to take pictures and interview us. The group decided witchypooy, who was really fired up, should be our spokesman and she did an admirable job carefully answering questions and explaining what we were doing. The cameraman spent a rather long time with us and got pictures of the Free Republic address. The interview ran on the Fox Ten O'Clock news and they did a great job of editing. They took a great segment from witchy's interview, several shots of us walking around and a close up of my dirty shoes, some might say my best side!
moutaineer from WV told me later that the cameraman might have been one of his relatives so maybe that's why things went so well.
Here's the intrepid band again, this time pietro took the picture. prisoner6 (me) is on the right holding the sign with the Free Republic web address and smoking a cigar. BTW I'm NOT that short. I had crouched down to get the young ladies behind me into the picture. They were using my rather wide body as a shield against the wind, but I wanted them in the picture to make Wife jealous. If she sees me hanging around with gals like that, she might come along the next time, and we need all the bodies we can get! The Annonymous Freeper and the soon to be Freeper are standing by, while witchypooy can be seen in the back slapping her head. I'm not sure just why she was doing that, but I think it had something to do with her sudden realization that she didn't have any make-up on when the FOX interview went down. It didn't make any difference, she was MAHVELOUS!
By 2 PM the weather was wearing us down. pietro had a commitment he couldn't break and said good-bye. About a half hour later The Annonyous Freeper, the two young ladies and the young fellow had to get going as well. So that left witchy and I to carry on, which we did until just before three. At some point she and I sat on a granite wall, but forgot that it had rained recently. Both our bottoms were soaked when we staggered into the 10th Street cafe, much the the amusement of the customers there. But to be honest none made fun of us and several asked questions including whether we planned to come back. We told the we did and I got the impression we picked up a couple additions to our group.
So that's about it. All in all I was pleased with how it went. Virtually no trouble from passersby, no problems with the police, in fact just the opposite. The cops supported us and one passerby especially caught my attention. While several had mentioned something positive to us, this one fellow appeared to be an immigrant. He spoke with a heavy accent and was hard to understand but he looked at our signs, nodded his approval and said "Very Good! Very Good Words!" That made my day.
Witchy was going to try and get snappys from the FOX coverage. If she did she'll email them to me and I'll post them later.
It took me so long because I had to work late after midnight and the computers at work weren't working properly.
In addition, this was my first attempt at posting pics and because I didn't check the batteries before I left, the pics turned out a bit fuzzy. I tried to clean them up but probably made things worse. Also I wasn't sure the size to post, so I hope this isn't loading down the system.
This definately won't be the last Freep in Pittsburgh, in fact it's just the start.
It's just too bad that it took such a sad turn of events to get us together here.
Thanks to all who turned out everywhere today and thanks also to those who couldn't make it but gave us their support.
prisoner6
Excellent job, prisoner6. The download time is a killer, but live and learn.
In photo #2, is that The Bluff (Duquesne University) in the background? I was there awhile back.
Great report and great pictures of your protesters efforts today. Thanks for staying up so late to post this for the rest of us. Take care and FReep On!
Good Work, from the DC Chapter.
Thank you. Bravo!
Hi FM, thanks for the kind words. RE: The BLuff. No in the background is The Hill District, not the city's best section. The building in the background with the arch in it's center is Flag Plaza. The Boy Scouts are headquartered there and it seems like I'm aways up there for something. (Shamlessly crowing about #1 Son's making Eagle Scout a few months back)
To it's right, and you might be able to see just a bit of it, is the Civic Arena, now the Mellon Arena. That's where the Penguins play. If you were at the DU union in the late 60's as I was before transfering to Pitt, you could see it while you studied.
The large, orangish building with the rotunda is the renovated Pennsylvania Station. It now houses apartments and offices but the Amtrak trains stop there a couple of times a day.
prisoner6
BTW would the load times have been shorter if the pics had been smaller? I suppose that's a stupid question, but I haven't had much experience posting pics and was't sure of the code. Something like width 240 height 180 for a reasonably sized pic?
prisoner6
Good pictures and keep up the good work. I'm up here in Oil City, and if I'm ever in the area for the next protest, I'll stop by. Just use FR mail to let me know.
Next time try the APOLLO CAFE, just down from Grant on Forbes Avenue. Two sisters own it and they work hard. Good food, too, especially the omlettes for breakfast and the steakburgers for lunch.
Thanks ironman, but we sure don't come close to what you've done in DC!
A few of us do intend to head down that way soon though. We'll let you guys know when we can put it together.
prisoner6
Thank you FS
prisoner6
Will do roughrider! The more the merrier!
prisoner6
Houston had a large demonstration from the Cuban Community today.
Thanks for the report.
Well done, brave freepers!!! You're my heroes. Many thanks for representing the rest of us. We appreciate it. And double thanks for the pics-you're a goodlooking bunch!!! LOL
Well done, as far as I know we had to protests here in Canada so I look at cats like you as my voice of protest.
-- A former native.
Hey, I hope yunz ahl went dahn ta Primanti's afterwards an' had a sanwich! :)
Hey, I hope yunz ahl went dahn ta Primanti's afterwards an' had a sanwich!
It was so cold and we were so tired it was all we could do to stagger across the street to the 10th Street Blue cafe for coffee. hehehe
Next time Primanti's is definately on the agenda!
prisoner6
"Hey, I hope yunz ahl went dahn ta Primanti's afterwards an' had a sanwich!"
nah, i went up to gorceria italiana in bloomfield for the best imported cappacol' in town and marinated artichoke hearts.
Thanks prisoner6 for getting us together, let's work on that Pittsburgh chapter idea. drop me a note off line @ mkcelani@bellatlantic.net.
.
WOMEN SS GUARDS from Belsen (NAZI extermination camp).
let's work on that Pittsburgh chapter idea.
Thank you for showing up!
Yes I think it's way past time for Pittsburgh chapter. I'll be e-mailing you and let's see what we can do.
I'm glad you got to see the pics, even though they didn't turn out as good as they should have because the batteries were so low.
Also because I worked past midnight I posted the report in the middle of the night and I was afraid you and the rest might miss them.
prisoner6
That IS scary, isn't it?
Actually after meeting with Janet the Torch, Butcher of Waco, I'm surprised little Elian wasn't sacred out of his mind and pleading to go to his Dad and back to Cuba.
Who in their right mind would want to live in the same country as Reno?
prisoner6
Hey, for a spur-of-the-moment deal it turned out really great! I was hoping to read about this, and got pix to boot! Although you probably did already, don't forget to post a link at Quinn's message board, oughta generate more than a little interest, I'd wager...
YOY! and DOUBLE YOY!!!
Good work on the protest.
Kristinn told me your were have fun up there. Great work!
"When we got organized as a country, we wrote a fairly
"If the personal freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution
radical Constitution with a radical Bill of Rights,
giving a radical amount of individual freedom to Americans
... There's too much personal freedom. When personal
freedom's being abused, you have to move to limit it."
William Jefferson Clinton, President of the United States
on MTV's "Enough is Enough", circa: March 22, 1994
inhibit the government's ability to govern the people,
we should look to limit those guarantees."
President Bill Clinton, August 12, 1993
Freep the Nation Together
Stand Up For Person Freedom Now!
Join the Freedom Rally
Well you figure Easter weekend, lousy weather, short notice etc. the group we had was OK.
But the BIG thing to me was the reaction. Only one group in a car spoke out against us and they were young kids. witchy had a confrontation on the trolley, but that was it. Out of hundreds, maybe thousands of people who passed by, that's not too bad. Even taking into consideration the people who saw us and had NO reaction either way.
One thing I forgot to mention earlier was that many people stopped to look at the picture of the marshall with the gun. Some even appeared to be studying it. I don't know if anyone else in the group noticed that but I did because I tried to stay close to the curb when traffic stopped.
I'd like to think we woke a few folks up.
Meanwhile it was GREAT to see so many reports from Freepers everywhere who either took to the streets, phoned of e-mailed Washington, or took a stand for Freedom in whatever way they could.
The heat is on, and now it's up to all of us to keep our officials feet to the fire!
Thanks to all
prisoner6
I forgot, witchy is talking to Quinn Monday morning and sendin him the pix. He might put them on his website.
It's be cooler if he's link to FR....
prisoenr6
"The group decided witchypooy, who was really fired up, should be our spokesman and she did an admirable job carefully answering questions and explaining what we were doing."
It must be added here that witchy ROCKS!! She has gone on since this post to serve as a most eloquent spokeswoman for the SAS. She is, as I type, nearing/in DC for the SAS/AIMM with a busload of other very wonderful, concerned people, and is in my thoughts and prayers. I deeply regret that, in the end, I could not be on that bus with her, but at least I've had the pleasure making her acquaintance by phone, which is, BTW priz, how I found out about these threads since YOU, dear one, did not alert me to them...OK, but DON'T let it happen again! ;o]
H'mm, did I meet unnamed FReeper Weds at Elian rally? There were two lurkers, but LOTS of concerned people (50??).
witchy ROCKS!! She has gone on since this post to serve as a most eloquent spokeswoman for the SAS.
Yes, she does! It's almost impossle to out talk her on anything. I wonder how she'd fair in DC with kristin and that chapeter on their weekend excursions outside the White House?
nearing/in DC for the SAS/AIMM with a busload of other very wonderful, concerned people, and is in my thoughts and prayers.
Mine too, I was tied up with family and work so I couldn't go.
which is, BTW priz, how I found out about these threads since YOU, dear one, did not alert me to them...
OOPS!
OK, but DON'T let it happen again! ;o] I won't. Promise!
prisoner6
Great job Prisoner!!!! I thank you for taking the time to make our opinion heard. What a nice bonus that you received news coverage!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
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