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Protesters Arrested as Bush Speaksby Jack Nichols
Then, suddenly, Kunst picked up the Tampa Tribune and discovered that three protesters had been removed from Tampa’s Legends Field prior to the president's speech. "Tampa police spokesman Joe Durkin said the trio refused police requests to leave the stadium and take their signs to a designated ‘protest site’ at the corner of Tampa Bay Boulevard and Dale Mabry Highway. "The three became unruly and one took a swing and struck an officer Durkin said. According to the Tribune, the GOP-friendly crowd cheered as protesters were dragged away. One of the protesters, Mauricia Rosas, carried a sign that said "June Is Gay Pride Month." Rosas was protesting the president's refusal, he said, to proclaim this month as "Gay Pride Month." Oral Majority members, Sonja Haught and Jane Lentz, both of whom introduced themselves as "Florida's Mad Grandmothers and Others" told reporters they’d staged 104 protests and that this was the first time they’d been disallowed their free speech rights. Their signs said "Investigate Florida Votergate". They were charged with trespass after warning, a misdemeanor. Haught was also charged with disorderly conduct." "Those people are Oral Majority folks," Bob Kunst told me proudly, "and a first after all these protests." (see www.oralmajorityonline.com ) Kunst also told of his own experiences while protesting Bush’s plans
and programs: "I bring two signs: ‘Stop Bush’ and the banner ‘Bush Stole The Election’.Local police tell me to stand behind their police car and all of this is one block away from Bush. So I plant the banner in the sand and hold the other sign. It's steaming hot. "I speak with one security office and tell him this is our 127th protest for Oral Majority. He's very pleasant. "Then, about 15 minutes later, one security guy from the Sheriff's Department and one Secret Serviceman ask me to move one block further away as I am presently where Bush will be driving by. "I said: ‘What's the problem? Search me, and my bag, and I'm just one person! Why are you isolating Bush from knowing that anyone opposes him?’They escort me one block away, and leave without giving me their names which I’d already requested. "So I put my stuff into my car, and I got my yellow pad and walked back to them and demanded their names and I.D. and said I’d explain on the Internet how their politics were standing in the way of my First Amendment rights. "They gave me the information and then I asked them to get me a Secret Service guy I’d met previously when, in December, I’d protested the whole Bushit family in Boca Grande. "They did, and we agreed I could return, but this time I was told to stand about 20 feet further back. We also agreed that I wouldn't put these guys names out on the Internet, which I will honor. "So I set up my signs again, and then did a radio interview with NPR radio from the University of South. Florida in Tampa, and shortly thereafter I had a number of folks coming back and thanking me for being there. "Now a Sheriff's deputy was stationed about ten feet from me and Bush and his entourage came by and about 100 feet from me and I shouted: ‘Bush Stole The Election’, ‘Bush Is A Thief!’. "After he left, the police left and I reset myself up again-- now on the corner where all the White House press would be coming towards me. "I gave them a mouthful about their being "Bushit's Media", because they were ignoring this grand theft, and one of them told me ‘Majority Rules’ and I responded that we’d heard that before in Germany. "After they left, I felt a great energy to have taken on this gaggle of lowlifes and letting them know that they are as much the problem as Bushit himself. "Now FOX, Channel 13 comes over for an interview and also the Miami Herald. "A lady who had the first Habitat House came over to me and gave me an apple and thanked me for being here. She told me that the grass sod on her property had recently been planted and even last night they tried to put in more, which she refused while media cars already ruined what she already had. "Again a staged show for Bushit and the media. And in the middle of this drought no less. "One young African American teenager came over and gave me a coke. "Other folks came by to thank me and then the Tampa Tribune took a photo, and I did another radio interview with WFLA. "I drove over to where the Habitat scene was, parked, and the folks, knowing I was the lone protester offered me sandwiches and a drink, and we had some discussions. "Definitely worth the trip, I say, and to my fellow Oral Majority folks, I'm with you all the way. "We need ACLU etc. to get involved with the fact that Bushit has not only isolated the U.S. from the rest of the world, in disbelief that we've sunk so low with this thief and his stolen election, but has also isolated himself from any resistance to him. " ‘Back Door Bushit’, hasn't the foggiest that the grassroots isn't with him, because the gangsters around him have kept him isolated, and most of the media is Bushit media, participating in the coverup. "Also to the Democrats protesting yesterday, why not again today? When there’s a second opportunity for free publicity about our cause? Why only one day? "Tomorrow, we’ll demonstrate against ENRON who financed Bush to a tune of $1million to help steal the election and is now reaping from this scam an opportunity to build a power plant in Miami as well as in Broward County -- part of the pay off and these gangsters are part of the scandal of greed causing California’s energy crisis. "Point is to keep the issues alive, and to know what media will listen to and to get the grassroots on our side. Today I only had two folks who were against my being there. So we keep pushing because if we don't, those who stole it the first time will also keep stealing it. "On the radio while driving today, I heard comments that the report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights about this Florida election’s theft will be out by Friday and that it definitely condemns Jeb and Katherine Harris, but it won't say—as Oral Majority does—that they 'conspired' to defraud. "Of course, this commission report is old since I testified before it in Miami and much more information has since spilled out about the election fraud…But still, something is better than nothing." Read Jack Nichols', THE GAY AGENDA, and see why it was named 1997 Outstanding Book by Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights in North America. Tell them that Sister Taffy sent you. Jack Nichols: www.gaytoday.badpuppy.com/jackbio.htm Oral Majority Online: www.oralmajorityonline.com Information about the Freedom Ride: Bobkunst@mindspring.com Telephone: 305-864-5110 Jack Nichols is the author of The Gay Agenda: Talking Back to the Fundamentalists (Prometheus Books, 1996) Of Men’s Liberation: A New Definition of Masculinity (Penguin Books, 1975) and of Welcome to Fire Island: Visions of Cherry Grove and The Pines (St. Martin’s Press, 1976)
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richard e. schiff,
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ral Majority
chair Bob Kunst sat in the Tampa Public Library Tuesday writing a report
about his 127th protest demonstration
at a site where George W. Bush had appeared. He was wondering why he’d
been the only Oral Majority member in the city protesting Bush at his
Habitat for Humanity photo opportunity, an opportunity designed to
reinforce his faith-based program, funding religious groups with U.S.
taxpayers’ moneys.
