April 18, 1998 - Deep Wog

1998 Apr 18: D.W. Has Sore Legs Again

So why does he have a smile on his face?

Because the members of the Marcabian Expendionary Force put in another 6 hours of picketing at the Toronto Org. From 10:00 to 17:00 (break for a one hour re-fueling at 13:00), we were at total cause.

Highlights:

1) Best turnout I've seen: 6 people. It was actually crowded on that sidewalk.

2) The focus of today was the anniversary (1 year ago) of the Supreme Court upholding the Co$ criminal breach of trust conviction in Canada. New flyer: a quote from a local newspaper article one one side [about the Court affirming the conviction], and the Xenu flyer on the other. These flyers went like hotcakes. Gregg handed me one hundred (?) of them at the start of the picket. By the lunch break, they were all gone.

About half-way through the afternoon phase, we RAN OUT of these flyers. I tell you, that was the scariest thing. Like running out of ammunition in the middle of a firefight?

3) Really good response from the public. Not a minute without a word of support from pedestrians, cars [honks], and bikes [madly dinging their bells as they zoomed by].

4) FREE XENU! The brother of Xenu made an appearance, telling people of OT3 and the vicious lies contained therein about Xenu. Brother of Xenu (and his agent) were not officially part of our picket, and the 2 of them are not included in the count of 6, above.

I didn't know what Xenu's brother was handing out until this kid came up and asked me just what was going on? He was complaining that the material he took from Xenu was written in "incomplete sentences", and was having a hard time figuring it out. I took one look and collapsed in laughter (probably confusing the kid even more): looked like a sample of OT3.

5) The Org called the police again. I'm beginning to think the Org is trying to piss off the cops, and hope the cops get pissed off at us in return. There is more than a little evidence to suggest that the Plan Is Not Working -- but, as we all know, that never stopped an Org before!

There were other funny games the Org was trying; I usually position myself at the main entrance to the Org, so I missed most of it.

6) A cop trys to chew out Artemis for stepping onto Org property. The cop is in the wrong -- I witnessed the event and Artemis was not trespassing -- but we can't expect a police officer to admit that. Artemis forgets this, and a minor incident ensues sending twitters of delight through the clams present.

Always remember the golden rule: a man with a gun is never wrong.

[This was probably the least experienced constable we have had so far. He was way to chummy with Org staff, and I think that a reasonable (uninvolved) person could have concluded he was exhibiting a bias. In fact, I later discover that Org members probably drew such a conclusion and acted on it ... but I'll let Gregg go into that.]

7) The Org setup a table and chairs and was giving E-Meter demos to anyone who would sit down. A real cheesy looking analog meter, cables, alligator clips and well-worn cans. In these days of 300MHz computers and OpenGL based video games, 3D video accelerated hardware, who could be impressed by that device?

Org tried to leaflet, but eventually gave up in the afternoon. The spectacle of a bunch of SP's out-leafletting them too much to take?

Overall, a super picket. Except, as usual, for the really tired legs...