Feb. 18, 2003 - 21:00 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

West

Quoting quite a bit from an article by Mike Litwin in his "Rocky Talk" column of today. Headline is "In Colorado Springs, call for peace can bring tear gas."

Mentioned in his column, "In London, 750,000 people marched in an anti war protest. And from what I read, no one was gassed."

"In Barcelona, over a million marched in an anti-war protest. And no one was gassed."

In Rome, a million more marched. You guessed it. No one was gassed."

"In Los Angeles, because its Los Angeles, protesters gathered on the beach to form an outline of Picasso's 'The Face Of Peace.' Oh, and no one was gassed."

In our state there is a town that is looked at as being rabidly conservative, some organizations have their home offices there. They don't look kindly on people who have different opinions than their's.

Litwin continues "In Colorado Springs, Colorado meanwhile, 3,000 people marched. And to counter the radical forces that had gathered there but apparently almost nowhere else, the cops let fly with their weapons of mass dispersal."

Ain't that a hummer ?

You won't see Bastion in an anti-war march, nor will you see him in a furor to go to war march either.

As near as Mike Littwin can find out, quote: "The march was uneventful until some of the protesters tried to block the street. A few marchers were arrested. And the cops quickly moved people onto the sidewalk. That seemed to be the end of the confrontation. Then, a half-hour later, when the crowd was dispersing, but apparently not quickly enough for the men in riot gear. Out came the cannisters."

Littwin says, "For instance, there's Tom Tancredo the hawkish Congressman Tom Tancredo, who had wrangled a psychological (1-Y) deferment during his opportunity to go to war. Speaking at a smallish anti-anti-war rally Sunday - a day after millions had rallied around the world against the prospect of war in Iraq - Tancredo said, "They are not anti-war rallies, They are anti-American rallies." Mike goes on, "It was at the same rally that Debbie Stafford had delivered a 'love-it-or-leave it' ultimatum: 'I have one thing to say to people who are not proud to be American. If you don't like this free land of America, feel free to leave.'" And Mike says, "To which, I could only reply: How did she miss out on her psychological deferment ? I thought we settled this right to dissent a few hundred years ago."

Mike tells about a couple who had gone to the rally and were dispersing one of whom said,"The rally was over . . . .The police told us to disperse or they would release the gas. We didn't even have time to get to the car. When we got there, we tried to start the car, but the battery had died. The fumes were streaming in. - - - - We saw it later on Channel 9. We were the last car there, and through the gas, if you looked closely, which we did, you could see us flailing our arms. The police told us to go. We said, "We're trying. We're trying to figure out whether to stay in the car and breathe in the fumes or risk getting out and getting shot with rubber bullets. Finally we had to get out."

Mike Littwin says, "I called the Colorado Springs Police to ask why tear gas was needed to move stragglers out of a field. I was told that because of the holiday no one was there who could talk to me."

Militia, National Guard and the police here in Colorado have long been called out to quell dissenters even though the dissent is peaceful. Goes way back to the Ludlow Massacre, and Chivington's Sand Creek Massacre of Native Americans which happened to be women, children and old men with few braves at camp. And there are more.

Seems like any time any form of dissent takes place violence against the dissenters takes place.

It appears to me that Colorado Springs Police seem to me to think they have a license to abuse any one who dissents in their town.

Thus it has been since the early days. This is the wild, shoot from the lip West . . . . . . . . . . .

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