There's a Right To Life March going on outside my office building !!

[NYYFan]

When I arrived at 8:30- nothing. 9:00- nothing. All of a sudden, there are protestors with signs, police, sherrifs and the works.

Background: I work for a surgeon, the office next to us is a podiatrist. The office at the top of the complex is a OBGYN. What goes on in his office, I have no idea.

When I stuck my head out of the door, one of the protestors started asking me for information on the OBGYN doctor. I said nothing, and came in and locked the door.

Why, oh why does this kind of stuff happen when the doctor is away ? :shrug:

[philosophie_en_rose]

Ask them to leave your building. Then call the cops.

I have a soft spot in my heart for protesters, but Right to Life protests can be witchhunts. As long as they aren't blocking your unrelated business and are outside, they are just a nuisance. However, if they continue to enter the building, they are tresspassing.

[xchrom]

1. get a baseball bat

and use that to answer their questions

[Muddleoftheroad]

No

They are protesting and as long as they are harming no one, violence is not an answer. However, if they interfere in the business of the building, call the police.

[Muddleoftheroad]

2. No

They are protesting and as long as they are harming no one, violence is not an answer. However, if they interfere in the business of the building, call the police.

[Northwind]

3. Open a window

And pee on them as they walk by.







(kidding)






(mostly)






(but really not)







;)

[Loonman]

4. Why aren't these people at their jobs?

I don't get it.

[Blue_Chill]

5. Why work....

When you can spend your day shouting horrible things at women going in for a check up?

The sick part is after they do this they actualy feel GOOD about themselves.

[outinforce]

7. Shouting? Horrible Things??

Do you have more information on this protest than the rest of us?

Please do share any links you might have which indicate that this protest involves people "shouting horrible things" at anyone.

[Blue_Chill]

Well that's what these people do

at the protests I've seen.

[outinforce]

6. What, exactly, is distressing you?

From your post, it is unclear what, exactly, is distressing you.

Is it that a group of people are protesting outside your office building?

Or is it that a group of people who have a point of view which is (apparently) contrary to your own are protesting outside your office?

Or is it that the people who are protesting outside your office building are becoming violent?

[RogueTrooper]

Well

How do you think it feels being on the otherside of one of these hate ridden events?

The people in this demonstration are mostly out of state white people demonstrating infront of medical facilities used by African Americans.

[DrGonzoLives]

Gee, I wonder

Maybe it could be that a large group of people suddenly popped up outside her office complex. Maybe it could be that the people that popped up are on the same side as those who take pride in killing doctors and anyone else even possibly involved with an abortion.

One wonders why you are so quick to defend pro-life protesters...that's a first for DU.

[outinforce]

Please.

"Maybe it could be that a large group of people suddenly popped up outside her office complex."

I have worked in Washington, D.C. for many years. People often exercise their rights as free Americans to engage in protests. Are you suggesting, DrGonzoLives, that I should be distressed whenever any "large group of people" suddenly appears outside my office complex?

"Maybe it could be that the people that popped up are on the same side as those who take pride in killing doctors and anyone else even possibly involved with an abortion."

"On the same side"? How do you know that? Are you painting with a broad brush here, DrGonzoLives? Are you suggesting that any person who would be part of a public demonstration concerning abortion would also support the killing of doctors? Or do you have some SPECIFIC information to indicate that these specific protestors support the killing of doctors?

"One wonders why you are so quick to defend pro-life protesters...that's a first for DU."

I'll make it really simple for you, DrGonzoLives -- I believe in your right to protest things that you feel are important to you. In fact, I'll defend the right of any person to protest (peacefully) about any subject that is important to him or her.

It seems to me that if someone is unwilling to defend the right of pro-life folks to protest (peacefully), then such a person would have no problem with having his or her own right to protest infringed.

[DrGonzoLives]

You work in D.C.

where there are protests all the time.

She works in North Carolina, where there are not protests all the time. There fore, it is disconcerting to anyone who sees these people suddenly pop up in those circumstances. Just because YOU would feel comfortable doesn't mean EVERYONE would. Deal with it.

"On the same side"? How do you know that? Are you painting with a broad brush here, DrGonzoLives? Are you suggesting that any person who would be part of a public demonstration concerning abortion would also support the killing of doctors? Or do you have some SPECIFIC information to indicate that these specific protestors support the killing of doctors?

Are you saying they wouldn't? Talk to some of them sometime, you'd be surprised what they would and wouldn't like to happen to doctors who perform abortions.

[outinforce]

Please.

"Maybe it could be that a large group of people suddenly popped up outside her office complex."

I have worked in Washington, D.C. for many years. People often exercise their rights as free Americans to engage in protests. Are you suggesting, DrGonzoLives, that I should be distressed whenever any "large group of people" suddenly appears outside my office complex?

"Maybe it could be that the people that popped up are on the same side as those who take pride in killing doctors and anyone else even possibly involved with an abortion."

"On the same side"? How do you know that? Are you painting with a broad brush here, DrGonzoLives? Are you suggesting that any person who would be part of a public demonstration concerning abortion would also support the killing of doctors? Or do you have some SPECIFIC information to indicate that these specific protestors support the killing of doctors?

"One wonders why you are so quick to defend pro-life protesters...that's a first for DU."

I'll make it really simple for you, DrGonzoLives -- I believe in your right to protest things that you feel are important to you. In fact, I'll defend the right of any person to protest (peacefully) about any subject that is important to him or her.

It seems to me that if someone is unwilling to defend the right of pro-life folks to protest (peacefully), then such a person would have no problem with having his or her own right to protest infringed.

[xchrom]

i simply wish for ''right to lifers''

the same well being they would wish for me.
i am done with the arguing -- they are dragging civilization through superstitious mud -- and spreading the filth everywhere.

[DrGonzoLives]

9. Gee, I wonder

Maybe it could be that a large group of people suddenly popped up outside her office complex. Maybe it could be that the people that popped up are on the same side as those who take pride in killing doctors and anyone else even possibly involved with an abortion.

One wonders why you are so quick to defend pro-life protesters...that's a first for DU.

[NYYFan]

Let's See

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the majority of the protestors were not FROM HERE- Out of State tags. Which means, they don't know jack squat about this doctor.

[CatWoman]

13. They are busing in lunatics

from "rent-a-mob".

[philosophie_en_rose]

10. There are Right to Lifers protesting outside of the building.

That is distressing and all he or she has done is look for sympathy on a website that has many sympathetic voices against the protests of conservatives.

I don't suggest violating their rights, but it is very upsetting to be closed in by conservative groups - a la "Support the Troop" rallies. Are you suggesting that he or she has no right to dislike it?

[TankLV]

8. Throw 'em a bunch of condoms periodically!

Even blow-up a few to use a baloons when you enter/leave the building!

It'll make 'em feel real darn good deep down inside!

[ronnykmarshall]

23. Throw coat hangers

That's what I did to group one time.

[cap]

get them moved to a "First Amendment Zone" a couple blocks away...

just like Bush does with his protesters.

[cap]

get them moved to a "First Amendment Zone" a couple blocks away...

just like Bush does with his protesters.

[cap]

get them moved to a "First Amendment Zone" a couple blocks away...

just like Bush does with his protesters.

[cap]

get them moved to a "First Amendment Zone" a couple blocks away...

just like Bush does with his protesters.

[NYYFan]

Here's the final report- It's Over 10:30 am

The protest was from what I could tell- quiet, they weren't yelling (which is what I was expecting). They held their signs, one played a guitar. Granted I couldn't hear, because I came in an locked the door.
The protest was also VERY Short. It was over at 10:30 or so. I'm sure they didn't accomplish much of anything.

In closing: Everyone has the right to protest, but you never know what time of anti-abortion unit you are going to get, you can't be too careful. Hats off to the local police for keeping things calm. This event reminded me of DeLay's Rent-A-Mob in Florida's recount debacle. Most of the protestors had OUT OF STATE TAGS !!

[outinforce]

14. THANKS for the Up-Date

Gee -- MOST of the protestors had OUT OF STATE TAGS??!!!???!!!

I work in Washington, DC.

Whenever there is a protest here, MOST of the protestors have OUT-OF-STATE tags!!!!!!

Oh, the horror of it all!!

[Mr. Jinx]

This is in Winston-Salem, NC

We may be a plain and simple folk compared to the a big city like DC, so whenever something like this happens it's bound to be shock. Right-to-life marchers aren't exactly commonplace here.

Also, this is an office for an African-American doctor on the African-American side of town. What kind of reaction would you expect if a group of people- who don't look just like you- are driving cars with out of state plates and carrying protest signs show up near your place of business?

They did their thing, they moved on, nobody got hurt. That's good enough for me.

[DrGonzoLives]

18. Are you purposely being obtuse?

Does it occur to you that such things do not happen all the time down where NYYFan works? Does it occur to you that when such events occur out of nowhere, they can be disturbing?

Washington, D.C. is not North Carolina? Get it? Want me to type tha bigger so that you can actually see it? People from around the country don't normally converge on a mid-sized city in North Carolina; Washington, D.C. is the capital of the U.S. Were you aware of that, or had it escaped your notice?

[Yupster]

21. Most surprising to me is

that there's a NYY (Yankee?) fan in North Carolina.

David Letterman joke from years ago.

"did you hear about the guy who was clinically dead for like an hour and then was revived? They asked him what it was like being dead, and he said it was like listening to Phil Rizzuto during a rain delay."

[outinforce]

15. THANKS for the Up-Date

Gee -- MOST of the protestors had OUT OF STATE TAGS??!!!???!!!

I work in Washington, DC.

Whenever there is a protest here, MOST of the protestors have OUT-OF-STATE tags!!!!!!

Oh, the horror of it all!!

[Terwilliger]

20. apples and oranges

fact is...no one in the town where they protested (not a small town by any means) could be bothered to make issue of the clinic, so they had to ship people in

[Ekaterina]

16. a couple of things

disturb me about these people:
1. They don't care WHICH women's facility they target and they harrass ANY woman entering or leaving. I know because I have seen them at the local hospital near my office. THEY don't know what these women are going to the dr. FOR, nor should they. The hospital's OB/GYN dept provides MANY services (hell, they were even harrassing female employees who entered and left the building.

2. They are all out there on the sidewalk chanting and tossing fetuses around decrying the "murder of babies" etc but these are the same wing nuts who don't want sex ed in the schools, who flip out at the mention of contraceptives and who are the FIRST to vote away any sort of medical care or education assistance for the baby once it is born. Apparently PREborn is a LOT more important than NEWborn.
They just make no sense to me.

[revcarol]

Hang a sheet outside that says,

LOVE LIFE? NO MORE WAR FOR OIL.
SAVE A SOLDIER'S LIFE.

[NYYFan]

11. Here's the final report- It's Over 10:30 am

The protest was from what I could tell- quiet, they weren't yelling (which is what I was expecting). They held their signs, one played a guitar. Granted I couldn't hear, because I came in an locked the door.
The protest was also VERY Short. It was over at 10:30 or so. I'm sure they didn't accomplish much of anything.

In closing: Everyone has the right to protest, but you never know what time of anti-abortion unit you are going to get, you can't be too careful. Hats off to the local police for keeping things calm. This event reminded me of DeLay's Rent-A-Mob in Florida's recount debacle. Most of the protestors had OUT OF STATE TAGS !!

[NYYFan]

12. Here's the final report- It's Over 10:30 am

The protest was from what I could tell- quiet, they weren't yelling (which is what I was expecting). They held their signs, one played a guitar. Granted I couldn't hear, because I came in an locked the door.
The protest was also VERY Short. It was over at 10:30 or so. I'm sure they didn't accomplish much of anything.

In closing: Everyone has the right to protest, but you never know what time of anti-abortion unit you are going to get, you can't be too careful. Hats off to the local police for keeping things calm. This event reminded me of DeLay's Rent-A-Mob in Florida's recount debacle. Most of the protestors had OUT OF STATE TAGS !!

[dsc]

It is amazing to contrast the reactions

in this thread and the one to the Tour De France protests in it's thread. Is it because the protesters here were violent? Well no. Is it because the protesters here were more disruptive than those in France? Again No. The ones in France held up a major race for 20 minutes. These ones evidently didn't interfere at all with the building. What oh what could explain the different reactions? Bottomline either everyone has a right to protest or they don't. It is that simple. Full disclosure I am pro life but I have crossed those picket lines more often than I have been in them. (4 times crossing 0 in them). They also picket porno stores and gay clubs in some areas. In short, either everyone has a right to protest or it isn't a right but a priviledge.

[Blue_Chill]

19. You answered your own question.

Question:
What oh what could explain the different reactions?

Answer:
The ones in France held up a major race for 20 minutes. These ones evidently didn't interfere at all with the building.

[dsc]

22. evidently you didn't read the Tour thread

that I did. While the initial post on both threads was negative toward the protesters, the ones here are overwhelmingly negative toward them and the ones on the tour thread were around 50/50 at worst and I think more like 25 anti/ 75 pro those protesters. No one suggested throwing urine on the Tour protesters, or using a base ball bat on them. All of the difference rebounded to the favor of the pro life protesters featured in this thread save one. The message of the Tour portesters is vastly more popular on DU than those of the pro life protesters.

[dsc]

It is amazing to contrast the reactions

in this thread and the one to the Tour De France protests in it's thread. Is it because the protesters here were violent? Well no. Is it because the protesters here were more disruptive than those in France? Again No. The ones in France held up a major race for 20 minutes. These ones evidently didn't interfere at all with the building. What oh what could explain the different reactions? Bottomline either everyone has a right to protest or they don't. It is that simple. Full disclosure I am pro life but I have crossed those picket lines more often than I have been in them. (4 times crossing 0 in them). They also picket porno stores and gay clubs in some areas. In short, either everyone has a right to protest or it isn't a right but a priviledge.

[dsc]

It is amazing to contrast the reactions

in this thread and the one to the Tour De France protests in it's thread. Is it because the protesters here were violent? Well no. Is it because the protesters here were more disruptive than those in France? Again No. The ones in France held up a major race for 20 minutes. These ones evidently didn't interfere at all with the building. What oh what could explain the different reactions? Bottomline either everyone has a right to protest or they don't. It is that simple. Full disclosure I am pro life but I have crossed those picket lines more often than I have been in them. (4 times crossing 0 in them). They also picket porno stores and gay clubs in some areas. In short, either everyone has a right to protest or it isn't a right but a priviledge.

[dsc]

It is amazing to contrast the reactions

in this thread and the one to the Tour De France protests in it's thread. Is it because the protesters here were violent? Well no. Is it because the protesters here were more disruptive than those in France? Again No. The ones in France held up a major race for 20 minutes. These ones evidently didn't interfere at all with the building. What oh what could explain the different reactions? Bottomline either everyone has a right to protest or they don't. It is that simple. Full disclosure I am pro life but I have crossed those picket lines more often than I have been in them. (4 times crossing 0 in them). They also picket porno stores and gay clubs in some areas. In short, either everyone has a right to protest or it isn't a right but a priviledge.

[dsc]

It is amazing to contrast the reactions

in this thread and the one to the Tour De France protests in it's thread. Is it because the protesters here were violent? Well no. Is it because the protesters here were more disruptive than those in France? Again No. The ones in France held up a major race for 20 minutes. These ones evidently didn't interfere at all with the building. What oh what could explain the different reactions? Bottomline either everyone has a right to protest or they don't. It is that simple. Full disclosure I am pro life but I have crossed those picket lines more often than I have been in them. (4 times crossing 0 in them). They also picket porno stores and gay clubs in some areas. In short, either everyone has a right to protest or it isn't a right but a priviledge.

[dsc]

It is amazing to contrast the reactions

in this thread and the one to the Tour De France protests in it's thread. Is it because the protesters here were violent? Well no. Is it because the protesters here were more disruptive than those in France? Again No. The ones in France held up a major race for 20 minutes. These ones evidently didn't interfere at all with the building. What oh what could explain the different reactions? Bottomline either everyone has a right to protest or they don't. It is that simple. Full disclosure I am pro life but I have crossed those picket lines more often than I have been in them. (4 times crossing 0 in them). They also picket porno stores and gay clubs in some areas. In short, either everyone has a right to protest or it isn't a right but a priviledge.

[dsc]

It is amazing to contrast the reactions

in this thread and the one to the Tour De France protests in it's thread. Is it because the protesters here were violent? Well no. Is it because the protesters here were more disruptive than those in France? Again No. The ones in France held up a major race for 20 minutes. These ones evidently didn't interfere at all with the building. What oh what could explain the different reactions? Bottomline either everyone has a right to protest or they don't. It is that simple. Full disclosure I am pro life but I have crossed those picket lines more often than I have been in them. (4 times crossing 0 in them). They also picket porno stores and gay clubs in some areas. In short, either everyone has a right to protest or it isn't a right but a priviledge.

[dsc]

17. It is amazing to contrast the reactions

in this thread and the one to the Tour De France protests in it's thread. Is it because the protesters here were violent? Well no. Is it because the protesters here were more disruptive than those in France? Again No. The ones in France held up a major race for 20 minutes. These ones evidently didn't interfere at all with the building. What oh what could explain the different reactions? Bottomline either everyone has a right to protest or they don't. It is that simple. Full disclosure I am pro life but I have crossed those picket lines more often than I have been in them. (4 times crossing 0 in them). They also picket porno stores and gay clubs in some areas. In short, either everyone has a right to protest or it isn't a right but a priviledge.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

24. They do have a right to protest but as someone who HAD an office

in a building with a Planned Parenthood office allow me to share my experiences.

The protestors were there everyday harrassing women on their way into the clinic to the point that women needed escorts. Not only did they harrass those women but everyone who entered the building. They acid bombed the building several times costing me in increase in workers' compensation premiums when one of my employees developed severe reactive airways disease as a result of their tactics.

My office manager was pregnant and several times on her way into work they harrassed her so bad (thinking she was going in to get an abortion even though she was the size of a large watermelon at the time..a procedure which could only be done in a hospital if she WERE getting an abortion but nevermind that the brainwashed Jesus morons that are obsessed with the abortion issue don't know the difference)tha she finally had to go off work early due to her blood pressure going out of whack simply trying to get to work and the fact that I did NOT want to be responsible for her well being given that these morons repeatedly attempted to grab her arm. I finally had to hire a security guard for my office.

They were so completely offensive, intrusive, and unreasonable that I paid to get out of the lease early as I could no longer tolerate the risk to my employees and clients.
They were SO OVER THE line that a mild mannered woman who works for me who HAPPENS to be Pentacostal, and whom I had NEVER seen swear finally got so frustrated she walked out of the office one day and began and began screaming and swearing at them in the street (that part was actually funny, I never knew she had it in her.)

So yes, I support the right of anti-abortionists to protest as much as I support the right of anti-globalists to protest. They do NOT have a right to harm or assault others.

The tactics they used, BTW, are par for the course operating principles of Operation Rescue.

[dsc]

25. don't you have police out there?

Vast amounts of what you describe is illegal. It is illegal to grab people. It is illegal to acid bomb places. It is illegal to block businesses. None of the pickets I crossed nor any of the ones which occasionally picket the one in my town have done any of these things. You had every right, and arguably the duty to call the cops on those people. But the protesters here did no such thing as even the clearly anti protester person who posted this said.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

26. I am glad the group today did not employ those tactics.

The police did come in the beginning of the protests but increasingly got slower and slower to respond. When one runs a business and is responsible for what may occur to their employees during the ordinary course of business one can't always wait for police. I am glad today's events were peaceful. I support their right to peaceful protest as much as my own. I must admit, my impressions of certain groups and their tactics are permanently soured by my experiences.

BTW, the acid bombings usually took place in the middle of the night ..but they did finally catch one of the perps in the act. If you have never entered a building which has been acid bombed it is hard to describe but one area might be well ventilated and not smell but then you turn a corner to a hall and get a whiff of an odor so strong it literally gags you.

[supernova]

27. NYYFan, glad you're OK

and nothing really scary came of it, though it's understandable if you grew a few grey hairs today.

Glad they didn't stay and moved on out of town. Not over here, I hope!