August 29, 1998 - Gregg Hagglund

Highlights:

The Toronto Org was forced to rent a cop again at $400 Canadian for the day. <grin>

In attendance: Artemis, Wulfen, Android, Witling, Slippery Jim and yours truly.

Flyer count: 850+ over the course of the 6 hours.

Toronto, August 29, 1998.

This was our 15th or 16th effort (depending if you include our participation in CW last year and the APA counter cult quickie by DeepWog and Wulfen) since May of 97.

The Toronto Org is dead. Period. Not dying. Dead. The Co$ are just too embarrassed to bury the corpse. The broken window count is increasing, electrical repairs are not done, the second elevator is still non functional, the staff are morose and depressed, few publics are on course and the mortgage payment is likely to be missed *again* as this sad sack of an Org *will in no way come close to pulling in the nearly one million $Canadian* due on December 24.

However, as long as the Borg are there, then so, too, will the Pickets.

We can neither be bought or threatened off.

We started off the morning with a three SP contingent for the AM section, but were soon joined by three more Wogs at Cause. Wulfen had to leave in the afternoon, but did a stalwart job on the 'point' position whenever I had to respond to numerous phone calls from other SPs from all over the world and to calls from work. ( Yeah, I am such an ARS loser that I am *over employed* in my consultancy work with the media. <grin>)

There were a few humorous moments, like when the nice Rent a Cop overheard me commenting on the Celphone ( to Rod K, I think, or JJ) I was being photgraphed again from across the street by the Co$ites. The Officer asked if I felt harrassed at all. I said no. He asked if I was sure. I said it was old hat now. He asks if I was *absolutely, positively sure I did not feel harrassed, just a bit*?

Pause and blink on my part. (Doh! Slaps forehead.)

Yes, I says, come to think of it, by gosh, I *was* feeling a bit intimidated. Cop then smiles and turns to his official Lady Cosite Cop/Handler/Gopher, suck-up-artist and apparently tells her to get the idiot across the street to knock it off.

Some frantic handwaving then takes place and Mr Shirt and Tie from the Kitchener Org ( Ontario License plate YJI 112 on his White Pick up Truck) puts away the camera and comes across the street to body route.

Then we play a game of flyer colour switching. <smile> Last picket we used predominantly green flyers so this time the Borg was armed for some desultry body routing with orientation film invites on the same coloured paper. Only we start off with bright pink flyers. So about noon the Borg switch to a similarly bright pink bit of their own material. When we come back from lunch I notice they have stock piled a number of boxes of these pink thingees near the stress tables. So I switched us all over to our yellow flyers. Later, just as we ran out of the Yellows, the Borg put away all the Pink things and hauled down cartons of some yellow stuff, but then had to go and get more of their pink things when we switched back to our Pink RXSpecials.

Also of humorous note: the local street sweepers commented to me that they rarely see one of our flyers strewn about or even in the garbage, but Co$ literature was the main content of the local bins when we were on a demo. I asked if this was their 'beat' and they said it was, 365 days a year, from Bloor to Welsley on both sides of Yonge. So I asked how often they saw the Borg handing out literature? The answer: "Hardly ever except when you guys are here."

Others have given interesting details of this Picket so I won't take up your ARS time with a rehash. But I would like to take a moment to express my sympathies to the US picketers who are being personally harrassed by Co$ Counter Pickets. This kind of crap doesn't happen up here in the GWN. Either the Co$ is too weak up here or it is just the fact our Judiciary has hamstrung the Co$ with recent rulings or I live too far away for them to cheaply commute to to harass, I don't know. Perhaps it is my previous post about my "Incase of a Co$ Picket" Response Kit my family has ( OT3 in the full form, Pictures of Ron and the tomatoe, Wgert and his pig, a close up of Helena in the morning etc.) My lawyers tell me the Co$ is hesitant to mix with CSIS and or test Criminal Harassment Law so I think I will give it a test in CW this year. The larger Canadian Contingent will be renting a car or cars and we will identify ourselves with little Canadian Flags. If the OSA cares to test Canadian Law which holds one can sue a Canadian Based Subsidiary for crimes commited against Canadians abroad, then things may get interesting. (Trying to get me arrested at gunpoint last year was a complete flop.)

Please Note: SpBill was *not* at our August 29 Picket, except in spirit. What SpBill *was* doing would cause a clam to curdle if it knew. <grin>

Buttnor is stuck out west in Calgary or Edmonton for depositions etc in his disastorous Lawsuit and CounterSuit with an Edmonton Cop. Maybe the ARSCC (wdne) in Alberta could arrange a 'Buttnor' Special out west.

Oh, yes. OSA. Oh OSA! (Waves hand) Yoh! Wake up! That's better. Now listen up: My past business associates won't sell me out and my neighbors are forewarned about that sleaze-bag PI from Richmond Hill. All my Corporations and Filings are up to date and my photovisage is professionally protected. So give yourself a break and take a holiday. Oh and please let Andy Hill out of the RPF. It wasn't his fault the Co$ is such a difficult bit of pond scum to rationally defend in debate. <snicker>

Be Seeing you!