On 9/12 *MY* America Was Alive and Well

And what do I mean when I refer to *MY* America? I refer to the patriots, the Tea Partiers, my fellow citizens who got off their duffs and let their views be known by shouting them out in public.

No... I didn't attend the BIG Tea Party in Washington, DC, but I did proudly take part in the Kingston, NY Anti-Debt, Anti-Big Government Rally which was held across from the Hudson Valley Mall off Rt. 9W this past Saturday.

Yep. Between 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Mary, I, and around two hundred of our fellow citizens gave vent to our feelings in peaceful public assembly... which was and is our Constitutional Right.

What was the Rally like? It was like one great big family asking government for "Redress of Grievances."

Were there any jerks there? I counted two... two semi-jerks.

(More on them later.)

Were their any nuts? Well... there was one "Birther" who just seemed confused when I tried to explain to him that if there was ANY truth to the whole "Birther" thing he could bet his lifetime earnings that Bill and Hillary Clinton would have nailed candidate Obama on it...

(*CHUCKLE*)

There was also a woman next to me with a sign saying something about Jesus... but, hey... if she wants to believe that her views reflect those of the Deity... how's that hurting me? After all, claiming "God is on our side" isn't exactly ahistorical nor confined to the political Right. After all, long before the Moral Majority there was Liberation Theology.

(*SHRUG*)

Back to the semi-jerks...

At one point these two kids - high school kids... perhaps college kids - show up. A boy and a girl. The young man had a "rainbow" sign with the caption "These Colors Don't Run." Obviously a take-off on the original "American Flag" based slogan. The young lady was "armed" with a camera.

Now my suspicion is that the young man was hoping to garner a negative reaction from someone in our group - at which point his female companion would be there with the camera ready to get some shots "proving" that our protesters were violent. Why do I suspect this...? Well, mainly because the kid with the sign kept on deliberate pushing in front of "our" people and deliberately holding up his sign in front of "our" American flags and "Don't Tread On Me" flags and deliberately "cutting" in front of our signs.

Well... the young man got his wish... sort of.

(*GRIN*)

A couple guys noticed what the kid was doing and you can guess what happened next... these guys starting deliberately draping THEIR flags in front of the kid's sign and each time the kid would move they'd follow him around beating him at his own game.

Now here's the deal, and here's why I refer to these two guys - our guys - as semi-jerks: When I saw what was going on I intervened. I told the two guys to leave the kid alone, to let him have his fun, and made the case that most passerby traffic probably assumed the kids were with us so therefore whatever their purpose, the actual result of their presence was to add to our apparent numerical strength.

Well... the guys kind of backed off... they stopped directly taunting the kid... but they still kept on following him and his camera toting young lady friend around and I'm sure this made the kids nervous since they left soon after that. Let me just add, though... I offered to let the kids stand in front of me and told them that I'd make sure no one hassled them. For whatever reason they didn't take me up on my offer.

(*SHRUG*)

Bottom line... yeah, the kids came looking to make a point, expecting to get the response they did... but, still... my two fellow adult anti-debt protesters should have responded as I did - demonstrated that freedom means freedom whether one is Left or Right.

(Heck... I actually had the young lady shoot a photo of Mary and I - me with my sign, Mary with her flag! You could see the girl got a kick out of - and appreciated - the fact that I was standing up for my values by standing up for her rights and her companion's rights.)

Well... that was the closest thing to "trouble" that came out of "our side." Funny, though... the Left sure seems to attract a fair amount of nasty S.O.B's.

As I've noted, we had a pretty damn big crowd for a rainy day in Kingston, NY. I'm estimating maybe 200 people; we stretched in a "parade watching" type line for perhaps a 100 yards - in front of the sidewalk, not blocking it, behind the curb, not blocking the road.

We were there for four hours; four hours on a rainy Saturday directly facing the main entrance/exist for the Hudson Valley Mall. Thousands of cars passed us during those four hours, I'm guessing many thousands of people witnessed our actions - our peaceful rally.

I'm estimating around 35% of the folks driving past gave us a honk and a thumbs up.

I'm estimating perhaps 5% of folks driving past were... er... less than supportive of our efforts.

(*HUGE FRIGG'N GRIN*)

Of that 5% though... I'd say at least half gave us the finger, shouted out obscenities, or gave us the combo.

(*SMILE*)

Hey... one guy (yeah... a guy... what a disappointment!) even mooned us!

(*CHUCKLE*)

Let's see... one guy driving past shouted out that we were a bunch of rednecks...

(I'm an EPISCOPAL for God's sake! We sit on comfy red cushions and drink vintage Communion wine for Christ's sake!)

...he was driving a pick-up and sporting some sort of cap.

(*SMILE*)

One lady driving an old '60's (perhaps early '70's) Mercedes shouted out "Go back to your trailer park...

(*GUFFAW*)

...I don't think she noted the irony that "those people" - poor people who might live in trailer parks - are supposedly the demographic she no doubt claims to champion.

One... er... gentleman... told us we should "go back to Europe."

(The guy was black... I can only assume it was a racial "shot.")

Hey... as the kids say... WHATEVER...!!!

We had fun. We didn't respond in kind. "Sticks and stones," know what I mean? Being called a fascist by some moron driving a beat up old Subaru isn't exactly going to reduce me to tears.

(Well... tears of mirth perhaps...)

There were a couple nuts (both women by the way) who got REALLY worked up... REALLY exercised... who got SO caught up in screaming and cursing at us that they ended up causing two separate mini traffic tie ups and a few of the haters got SO involved in shouting out invectives that they almost caused accidents!

Hey... thank God... "almost" being the operative word.

(*WINK*)

Anyway... that about it; consider this my report from Ground Zero, Kingston, NY.

(*WINK*)

Actually... you'll have to! The local Kingston/Ulster County daily newspaper, the Daily Freeman, decided - for whatever reason - not to cover an event that had been pre-scheduled months before.

(Folks might consider contacting the Freeman's publisher - Mr. Ira Fusfeld - to ask him about this. I did. His response to me was that he'd "forward my concerns" to the newspaper's editors.)

Well - that's it. Folks... we can take back our country. We can exercise control over our elected officials - demand that they either listen to us or else face the consequences and lose at the polls.

Sign up! Sign up at the Tea Party Patriots website to receive updates and network with your fellow patriots.

Folks... get involved. I'm begging you!