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This Just In...
Kevin Fischer is an award-winning veteran broadcaster who has been seen and heard on Milwaukee TV and radio stations for nearly three decades.
Kevin, who is a legislative aide to state Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin), can be seen offering his views on the news on the public affairs program, “INTERchange,” on Milwaukee Public Television Channel 10. He lives with his wife, Jennifer, in Franklin.
Insane left goes too far, interrupts Easter Mass, throws fake blood
By Kevin Fischer
Monday, Mar 24 2008, 10:44 PM
The nutjobs on the extreme left sink to a new low......interrupting an Easter Mass in Chicago, tossing fake blood to protest the war in Iraq
Because, of course, this is the way normal, rational human beings express their views.
Throw the book at them.
From the Chicago Tribune:
Up to $35,000 bail set for 6 Holy Name protesters who hurled fake bloodBy Azam AhmedTribune reporter
6:34 PM CDT, March 24, 2008 The six Iraq war protesters charged with defacing church property as they disrupted Cardinal Francis George's Easter homily were held Monday in lieu of up to $35,000.
The demonstrators, who called themselves Catholic Schoolgirls Against the War, despite having both male and female protesters, squirted fake blood on themselves and nearby worshipers as security guards tried to usher them from the parish's auditorium, where mass is being said during repairs on the downtown Chicago cathedral.
Each protester faces felony charges because the damaged property belonged to a religious entity and the church will have to spend $3,000 to replace chairs and carpeting, prosecutors said. A $400 cleaning failed to remove stains left by the fake blood.
The syrupy red substance, which one protester later described as "stage blood," initially drew horrified gasps and a few shrieks from the 600 worshipers at the mass. The shock, however, quickly gave way to anger as people booed the demonstrators while they were being removed from the hall.
Several churchgoers then rushed to the bathroom to wash off the sticky liquid. Others cried openly. A few livid parents followed the protesters into the lobby and berated them for scaring children at mass.
"Are you happy with yourselves?" Mike Wainscott of Chicago shouted at the demonstrators as they were being handcuffed by police. "There were kids in there. You scared little kids with your selfish act. Are you happy now?"
The protesters were all charged with felony criminal defacement of property and two counts of simple battery for defacing church property and the worshipers' clothes with the fake blood. Chicago police identified the six arrested as: Donte D. Smith, 18, of Chicago; Ephran Ramirez Jr., 22, of Chicago; Ryne Ziemba, 25, of Chicago; Mercedes Phinaih, 18, of Bloomington; Regan Maher, 25, of Chicago; and Angela Haban, 20, of Prospect Heights.
All except Smith received $25,000 bail. Smith, who spent time in prison for illegally entering a U.S. military installation, had his bond set at $35,000, prosectors said.
Mike Harding, a friend of the protesters, described them as a group of students and local activists who do good deeds for their community, such as teaching classes, planting gardens and distributing food to the poor. If the demonstrators' actions ruined some people's Easter, then perhaps they'll have more empathy for Iraqi citizens who have seen their holiest days marred by violence, said Harding, 21.
"The idea is to bring that back here, not necessarily in a brutal way, but in a peaceful way," said Harding, who went to a police station after the arrest for information about his friends.
Speaking to reporters afterward, Harding said officers were being verbally abusive toward the protesters and were denying one of them medical treatment for his asthma. He said the accusations against them were "trumped-up" charges.
Protests aren't uncommon at Holy Name, the home parish to George and the epicenter of Chicago's large Catholic community. Some parishioners, however, said the faux bloodshed protest ventured into frighteningly unacceptable territory.
"The fact that people have to come to Easter mass and do something like that is disturbing," said Carroll Baker, whose face was splattered with the fake blood during the fracas. "It's very sad, and it's very irritating."
Catholic Schoolgirls Against the War, however, may have been preaching to the choir, literally. Both Pope Benedict XVI and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have opposed the war since its inception, with the pope using his own Easter homily Sunday to renew calls for an Iraq resolution that would "safeguard peace and the common good."
After the service, the cardinal reiterated the Catholic Church's opposition to the war, but he said mass is not the place to protest the U.S.-led invasion.
"We should all work for peace," George said, "but not by interrupting the worship of God. It's an act of violence to come among a group of believers and try to manipulate worship to your own purposes, no matter how noble and good they are."
In a statement issued by Catholic Schoolgirls Against the War, the group said it protested at the cathedral "to reach both Holy Name's large Easter audience, including Chicago's most prominent Catholic citizens, who commonly attend Easter mass at the church, and the many more viewers and readers of the local press, which usually extensively covers their services."
The statement lauded protesters' efforts to remind the churchgoers that George and Mayor Richard M. Daley met two months ago with President Bush, described as the "principal public figure responsible for initiating the carnage in Iraq."
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