proud2BlibKansan

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Sat Aug-08-09 12:28 PM
Original message

Pictures of the Coffee with the Congressman I attended this morning

Edited on Sat Aug-08-09 12:40 PM by proud2BlibKansan

I blogged from the event: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6252414

Sorry this is more of a narrative but my battery gave out on my camera and a bunch of the pictures I thought I took didn't get taken. :(

Congressman Emanuel Cleaver has a coffee once a month and meets individually with constituents who come and sign up to talk to him. I have been to several of these coffees and he usually talks to the crowd for a few minutes before he starts his individual meetings, but today he did not address the crowd as a whole. Wise decision, IMO.

It was so insane. The coffee started at 8 am and we got there at 7. The place was already packed and there was nowhere to sit. Right after we got our coffee (about 7:30) they ran out of coffee.

There were a bunch of teabaggers wearing this shirt. It said '912' on the front. They also had several flags with '912' on them. Anyone know what that means?

I never did get a good count or a good picture of the crowd so I can't tell you how many teabaggers vs health care supporters were there. I think it was about half and half. But the teabaggers were determined to be louder. Sorry my camera battery gave out so I took this with my phone.

I was with a bunch of union friends and the crowd was so large the congressman's aide decided to have him sit out on the patio rather than inside. So my union friends and I formed a circle around Cleaver's table and acted as a buffer between him and the lunatics. While we waited for him, we had several interesting conversations with the lunatics.

Sorry this is a bad picture but I knew you all would be thrilled to know Glen Beck fans were out in full force. :sarcasm:

This one citizen had a file folder full of that obnoxious Obama/Joker picture and was passing them out as we stood on the patio. He handed me one and I ripped it in half. He then walked over and taped one to the window and a man immediately walked over and took it down. A heated conversation between the two then took place. The man who took the picture down walked by us and we asked what the other guy said and he said the lunatic/citizen claimed it was his free speech rights to put up that picture and he told him no, he was the owner of this coffee shop and this was private property. Then I watched as a plain clothed sheriff's deputy followed the lunatic/citizen and stood next to him and the group he was with.

My DFA group endorsed the county sheriff and he was there in a Hawaiian shirt with about 6 plain clothed deputies. He came over and waved at us and then Cleaver came in and he immediately followed him and stood behind him as he met with folks. I talked to him about the lunatics and he said he has officers following their Tweets and reading their websites and as soon as he finds any threats or anyone urging others to be violent or bring weapons to an event in his county, they would be arrested.

A girl standing right behind us was holding one of the joker pictures up and I asked her if she was a racist. She said no and seemed offended. I asked her why she was holding up a racist sign if she wasn't a racist. She again denied she was a racist. An African American woman walking by stopped, looked at her sign and said "Yes, young lady, that is indeed a racist sign" and the girl held the sign up even higher.

When Cleaver came out and sat down the teabaggers began chanting. After a few minutes I guess they realized he wasn't going to address the crowd. The lunatics around us were complaining and we told them he does this once a month and if you want to talk to him, go right over there to his aide who has a clipboard in his hand and sign up to talk to him. They kept on about how he should talk to the entire group. Finally one of the folks I was standing with said "Why should he do that, so you people can shout him down?" And the guy shook his head and laughed.

That same guy told us that he was on welfare as a child and so he knew the system was corrupt. I said he looked like a very healthy adult so it sounds like my tax dollars kept him healthy as a child, paid for his health care, immunizations and education. He said again that the system is broken and I asked if he planned on refusing Medicare, since he looked old enough to be eligible. He said yes.

I asked several people that question. I said "Well you look old enough to be eligible for Medicare. Did you refuse it?" Even if they were obviously young, I asked them that if they seemed to be at least 40. Most did not answer.

My very favorite lunatic was this woman. Obviously old enough for Medicare. Holding a sign that said NO GOVERNMENT HEALTH CARE. I stood by her for a long time and heard at least 6 people ask her if she had refused Medicare and she never answered. She was glad to talk about what was wrong with government health care but she never did admit refusing it herself.

A young woman came over to my group and asked us if we had read the health care bill. I asked which one. She said "The Pence Amendment". I said that's an amendment, not a bill. She said well it says that the government will pay for my abortion if I get pregnant. My friend said no, that's not in the bill and the girl said yes it is because there is money for Planned Parenthood in that bill. I said I was grateful for PP, that I had no health insurance for about 10 years when I was young and if it wasn't for PP, I wouldn't have had any health care at all. And I had never had an abortion. My friend asked her if she realized PP makes birth control available to many women and that actually prevents abortion. The young woman said "Well why do you need to have sex if you aren't planning on getting pregnant? That's fool proof birth control!" And a lady who just happened to be walking by stopped and said "Well I can tell that not having sex isn't a problem for you. As for me, no thanks!" I thought I was going to fall over from laughing.

Later a man came over to talk to me and an African American woman and was explaining why he opposed government health care. He said he was 56 and didn't have to worry about refusing Medicare since it would be broken by the time he was old enough to be eligible. He then said he had just had a conversation with a young "African American woman over there" and he pointed and went on to tell us what she had said. When he was done I asked him why it was necessary to describe the woman he talked to as African American. He froze. Then he stuttered "Well because she WAS African American" And I asked what difference that made. He froze again. The African American woman I was with said "Answer her question. Why did you have to describe her as African American?" He then threw up his hands and walked off.

I tell ya, it was hard not to die laughing at these lunatics. I walked by one woman and heard her say "Pretty soon the government is going to be telling me how much toilet paper I can use to wipe my ass!"

I sat down next to another older gentleman who was talking to a young man about corruption in the government and started telling him about chemtrails. Just then a plane flew overhead. The man looked up, caught my eye and I said "You guys better take cover!" He frowned and got up and walked away.

We walked by a lady holding a sign that said NAME ONE COUNTRY WHERE SOCIALIZED MEDICINE WORKS. I said "Cuba" and kept walking. By that time I was too worn out to wait for their reaction.

OMG there were dozens of petitions. I signed them all with this (and made sure I took up at least two lines):

YOU PEOPLE ARE OUT OF YOUR EVER LOVIN MINDS

One girl was walking around asking folks if they wanted to sign up for the teabaggers email list. I said sure, took her clipboard and wrote:

YOU ARE STANDING ON A SIDEWALK PAID FOR WITH TAX DOLLARS!! QUICK!! MOVE AWAY!!!

To her credit, she laughed and said "Good one!"

When the event was over several of us had a quick meeting and decided to make a petition to take to the next event that says the following:
I AGREE TO REFUSE MEDICARE AND SOCIAL SECURITY WHEN ELIGIBLE. IF I AM ON MEDICARE AND/OR SOCIAL SECURITY NOW, I AGREE TO BEGIN REFUSING THE PAYMENTS TOMORROW.

And we will then send the petition to our congressmen. :)

Oops edit to add I forgot to tell about the guy who claimed he was paying $6000 a month for health insurance and yes he did refuse Medicare. He later admitted he was paying for 10 employees. And we asked him if he didn't think that $600 a month for health insurance was a bit steep. HELLO?!

Pictures of the Coffee with the Congressman I attended this morning

SECESSIONISTS