Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2001 15:40:24 -0700 (MST)
From: thekoba@aztec.asu.edu (K J WALSH)
Subject: McCain recall rally

This morning a rally was held by the committee to recall Arizona senator John McCain in front of his office in Tempe. The Arizona constitution has a provision for recall of those holding public office, and as the constitution of the USA provides for each state to decide the method of election of senators and congressional representatives, it is the legal ability of Arizonans to recall either senator representing the state. A recall petition is in practice very difficult, as it requires the signatures of 25% of the registered voters in the state to appear on the ballot and then a recall election will be held. This means more than 300,000 signatures must be obtained. Obviously a great deal of money and resources are required for this.

The main perpetrators of the recall are the members of the Republican Party, with some members of the Libertarian Party in coalition, who are dismayed by McCains support of two bills that would:

1. greatly increase federal regulation of gun shows

2. limit the right of organizations to address political issues shortly before an election

Also many were dismayed by McCain's refusal to support the tax cut bill promoted by President George W Bush. Conspicuously absent from these criticisms were his wartime actions against the Vietnamese people.

Although the right dominated this rally, the left was visibly present. Several anarchists rallied against the McCain-Lieberman bill on the regulation of gun shows. One of these anarchists carried a sign that said, "Go postal. Kill your boss." Another carried a sign saying "Arm the poor."

Rick DeStephens asked us to chant the Pledge of Allegiance. I chanted:

The people's flag is deepest red
It shrouded off our martyred dead
And 'ere their limbs grew stiff and cold
Their heart's blood dyed its every fold
Then raise the scarlet standard high
Beneath its shade we'll live and die
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer
We'll keep the red flag flying here.

Brass Roots had its terrible band "The Cartridge Family" singing bad songs, just as they did at the Glendale Library protest last October. OK, so my singing is no better, but at least I don't form a musical group. I had to agree with the Glendale librarian when she complained about their singing.

I did start to sing <Horst Wessel> when a Zionist infiltrator group called "Jews for the Preservation of Gun Ownership" started chanting "Never again!" But after a time I figured it was more effective to shout back, "It never happened!" and "Never again will we have a Jew government!" They had some French Jew speak about how he had lived in France when it was occupied by the Germans. He didn't look a day over sixty. These sham Holocaust survivors get younger and more numerous every year!

Much of the rally I was engaged in conversation with Mark, who rode the bus with me back when I worked at the Registrar of Contractors. I hadn't seen him in nearly a year. He has always had a strange ambivalence about me. He says I make good conversation but also that he is afraid of me. He made a point of mentioning that he had broken up with his boyfriend, so perhaps he has sexual desire for me. He was, quite frankly, the last person I expected to see at this rally, as he is a moderate leftist who dislikes political agitation, but he said he came out of curiosity. He started walking around making conversation with a variety of people on all sorts of differnt topics. He told me of having debated with a Christian about whether the New Testament of the Bible teaches people not to use guns. I told him no one even knew what a gun was when it was written. He made some quotation, "If you live by the sword, you die by the sword."

I said, "OK, so if you are willing to die by the sword, you can live by the sword. So what?"

Oh well, I've signed the petition. If enough people dislike McCain for various reasons, perhaps he will be forced out of office.

--Kevin