-Caveat Lector- NO APOLOGY FOR DEFENDING, EXERCISING RIGHTS By Bob Glass Source: ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS (Denver CO) http://www.rockymountainnews.com/ June 7, 2001, Thursday It is outrageous, hypocritical and cowardly for a journal like the Rocky Mountain News, whose daily existence rests on the sanctity of the First Amendment, to take cheap shots at those citizens who choose to exercise their First Amendment rights in a different way. I am referring to the attacks made against me and the Tyranny Response Team in the editorial of May 31, "Louts on the protest line." I will not apologize for using our passion, our lungs and our bullhorns to convey our message. Being a true grass-roots movement we do not have the corporate sponsors or the money that the Million Mom March or SAFE Colorado has, and consequently we cannot afford to run full-page ads in the News like they do. We must stand in the streets and holler, because the media has failed miserably in its responsibility to report all sides of the issue. Despite the best efforts of News reporters such as Carla Crowder to discredit us, a handful of people willing to stand up for the Bill of Rights has drawn large numbers of people into our ranks, not just in Colorado, but across the country. The numbers of Million Mom Marchers on the other hand, have plummeted faster than the Mir space station. Their Mother's Day rally that drew 3,500 people a year ago only attracted a pathetic 200 this year. They were quick to blame the tactics of the TRT for their dismal turnout, never once considering that it is our message that is at last being heeded. Not content simply to point their fingers at us and scream, "No fair!," they had to rat us out to the high priests and police of political correctness, the Anti-Defamation League. The ADL, like their cowardly and hypocritical brethren in the Million Mom March, won't come right out and call us anti- Semites or racists (a tall order considering that I am Jewish), but must rely on their stock in trade of smear, innuendo and character assassination. They claim to be concerned about the "kind of people that might be drawn into our ranks" and the possible link between "rogue members of the TRT that might have made threats against Tom Mauser." And like their philosophical comrades at the News, they too are concerned with our tactics. This is a transparent and despicable attempt to demonize us without having the guts to accuse us of anything concrete or engage us in a public debate. And after all, what can they accuse us of? No member of the TRT has ever been arrested at a demonstration, nor has any TRT member been questioned about threatening anyone. I have repeatedly asked the Million Mom March, SAFE Colorado and the ADL to debate the issues with me in a public forum of their choosing. They have all refused. As a consequence of their refusal they have left us no choice but to use the theater of the street to make our points. Despite the self-evident absurdity of their emotional rhetoric, their arguments are historically, ethically, morally and constitutionally bankrupt and they know it - hence their refusal to debate. It is an inescapable irony that history repeats itself. Undoubtedly the good, upstanding, respectable members of Boston society along with its newspapers strictly condemned the tactics of a band of ruffians and hooligans, some 200 years ago as they boarded a ship in Boston Harbor and contemptuously broke the rules. These "louts" dressed up in outrageous costumes and painted their faces in wild colors as they trespassed on private property. This band of rowdies stole merchandise and, in bold defiance of the king's law, dumped it into the sea. This act of flagrant disregard for all civilized behavior was to become known as the Boston Tea Party. You might find our tactics distasteful. We find the destruction of liberty even more distasteful. Get used to us. Unlike our cause du jour adversaries, we have pledged our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor to winning back our freedoms. NOTES: Bob Glass is president of the Longmont-based Tyranny Response Team. SPEAKOUT <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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