It's a Gonzo Protest in Florida
By John Amato Monday Nov 19, 2007 1:18pm
Alberto's first speaking engagement didn't go quite the way he would have liked, but it's not surprising that students protested the man who gave the President (his pal) a blank check when it comes to our civil liberties while also installing "torture" as an approved method of interrogation. Alberto is getting paid a boatload of cash (40K) to speak after disgracing his post as AG. Being a "movement conservative" is always a very profitable venture. And he took no questions from the audience.
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In his first appearance at a university since resigning in August, former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was met at UF on Monday with a mixture of cheers, boos and scattered interruptions by protesters, two of whom were arrested.
Gonzales, who resigned from his position after a controversial tenure, spoke to more than 800 people at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. During his prepared speech, Gonzales largely avoided discussing the controversies he faced in office, including his dismissal of nine U.S. attorneys.
Instead, he focused on encouraging students to consider a career in public service while describing his own experiences in that field.---Later, he ignored scattered jeers from the crowd to answer questions about his dismissal of the attorneys, the Geneva Convention and torture.
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He's a little piggy
Gonzo shouldn't be upset. The students are just prepping him to get used to seeing people in jumpsuits, as that's all he see in the near future.
That guy in the hood is my hero for the day.
McClellan gets a book deal, Gonzales gets 40k to open that lying torture loving shit hole of his? Fuck this shit man, crime truly pays!
PeteN @ 3:
That took some serious balls. Good for these students!!
[Deleted. Please don't advocate violence on this site-Sitemonitor]
Gonzalez, I mean.
And folks say young people don't know or care about what is going on in the nation. Well, they know and they are taking action or making statements against crooks like Gonzales and its great to see.
There is no doubt that the Rebubs are going to need either more Tazers or one big one!
As these criminals go out to get their " Hush" Money ".
Do they make the Anal Tazer yet?
abu gonzo, the former torture general, deserves to be treated like the human garbage he is.
in fact, all the former and current bushbots should be, until the end of their days, followed around, mocked, protested, jeered, etc. they should never be forgiven nor forgotten. their names will forever be tied to their despotic enabling, neofascist tendencies, illegal activities and treasonous behavior. and rightfully so.
1. I wonder what those who were arrested are going to be charged with.
2. It's kind of disappointing when only a handful of people stand up in protest with their backs to Gonzo.
3. Shame on the university for charging $$ to attend this travesty and shame on the fascist Gonzo who's now profiting from being a (disgraceful) attorney general.
Reich-wingers every where are screaming: "Tase him, tase him!"
wow
what balls
to stand on a podium telling lies and getting paid 40 gees to do it with no remorse...
This photo and the one of Rice being confronted by blood soaked hands are starting to give me hope that we are reclaiming our democracy from these criminals. I can't wait for the photo of Bush and Cheney being indicted.
the orange suit and black hood icon is so powerful
gonzaless has to see it in his sleep,i least i hope he does
If there is to be profit made from holding a Government position. Other than stealing or embezzling, "if you will".
They should have to perform their job fully without resignation, and should wait for a certain amount of time as Congressmen now have to wait to become lobbyists.
Most of all, I would like to see these colleges change the format. Make it a debate with Gonzo and Waxman. Rove and Olberman. Bring in another point of view on the next speaker........................
May fear is Blackwater and other such POS**ts
will be hired to escort these criminals around.
Won't be long. If it isn't happening as we blog.
I wish I could have beend there so I could throw a fucking brick at his head with the words JUSTICE written on it.
I got search at the transit center in Portland, and I ask one of the trimet bus driver of when they started searching? The answer I got was very disturbing, was that they have to comply with Homeland security protocol to get federal funding. In other word they have to keep drumming up fear of travel to sway the public to think that a guys like Gonzo is a hero. It's all about using 9/11 to take away our Bill of Rights. As long as the fear keep us at bay, they'll keep taking more and more for themselves.
Brick Pies.
sam sneed @ 14:
Pfffft....they don't sleep Mr. Sneed...Gonzoid, and the rest of his...ilk, are far too busy being eeeevil and planning the downfall of this country.
The security that search me, refuse to give me their names and their supervisor name. It's beginning to look more like Gestapo every day. We'll get used to it, bit by bit, and they'll take over bit by bit, as we get used to it.
Code orange .....
Did that putz say in his speech that "sometimes we stumble"? yeah and sometimes you order torture you fuck!
Oh how I hate these rightwing criminals...I hope all the Republicans are proud of your party!
apeman @ 16:
20,000 strong, well armed, with tanks and a small air force...fun fun fun.
goatsage @ 13:
I agree. Rice and Gonzales always get the big bucks for various speeches. That is a given. However, those that stand in direct opposition to war criminals and crooks, face to face, and still do it knowing the punishments they could receive afterwards are priceless. You can't put a price on courage like that. Those students, are true patriots and are better human beings than those that they stand up to.
liberalNmoderation @ 20:
hey even dracula sleeps..
Why didn't Gonzo pay the university $40,000 versus the other way around?
Dahgrostab'ph-r-i @ 23:
I hope all americans are proud of their country .......
The sooner you stop being divided and get it sorted the better.
sam sneed @ 14:
He couldn't look, for fear it would unduly excite him in public.
Funny I never see any headlines about this stuff on CNN International's crappy website ... but did you hear?
"Deer leaps over police car on highway"
So if gonzo can speak, what's the big deal with Ahmadinejad? They're both criminals.
goatsage @ 5:
A big THANK YOU to all the students who protested. And good luck to those of you who got arrested!
Weaseldog @ 29:
oh yeah..its the Torture Guy™ for crying out loud!
there is no coverage of this story by the MSM - google it and see for yourself
Take the $40K out of [University president] Dr. Machen's salary. Make him give more talks to make the money back. Seriously.
gumby @ 34:
Yes, but Bush pardons Thanksgiving Turkey
WEASEL
I cringe at the notion that fellers like AG are even hired for speaking engagements. The man is a CRIMINAL and a LIAR. A criminal liar. He's lies criminally. His lies are crimes.
GEEZ!
jgr4 @ 32:
The scary bit is that some of the students actually cheered for this asshole. That is what I fight frightening....
roper @ 37:
Hey! No insulting of weasels please!
Send a reporter to the University and ask them now that its over, "Was it worth 40' G's to hear Gonzo" ?
And, " What was the most informative educational benefit from Gonzo's speech " ?
John Ashcroft Law firm gets 52 million no bid contract to monitor some kind of medical prothesis. Can anyone say Hush money? Gonzales will be getting a very special stocking stuffer this christmas.
chickenshit chickenhawks do not take live questions. 40K and prescreened questions. life is good for gonzo.far better than it should be for sure.
"Go into public service to serve the rich and fleece the poor", said Gonzo to the nauseated crowd. Why would anyone want to hear this criminal speak about anything?
Code orange standing next to Abu Gonzo. Priceless.
If I were a UF student I would be angry. Its my understanding that Gonzales was paid $40,000 from the student events budget that every student pays for with dues. Whoever decided to hire Gonzales for a speech without even any real Q & A deserves immediate expulsion. Who knows? Maybe they'll try to get the money back because he wouldn't answer questions.
Gonzales is still a criminal. Now he's ripping off college students. Asshole.
ggy @ 17:
Oh, that's soo funny. LOL Very descriptive.
My hat off to the protester in the hood for restraining himself...
I would have taken that hood and put it over Gonzo's head, where
it belongs!
Did anyone else notice who exactly did the cheering at the end of Gonzo's speech? It was a tight knot of 30-40 people on the front rows that stood and cheered when no one else did. These people were obviously actors, or plants, or whatever you want to call them...
The protesters are heroes. Good for them. Do not ever give Abu a free pass in this world.
sam sneed @ 26:
Yeah...but dracula's way cooler than Gonzaloid...he's more like Igor...don't think he slept much...just scurried about, mumblin and eatin bugs and whatnot....rubbing his filthy/bloody hands together, leering and goin "Yeeesssss Massster"!
$40,000? To hear Mr. "I don't recall" talk? Are you kidding me!? Where the hell is that money coming from, skyrocketing tuition fees? Why are parents not storming the campus with pitchforks right now demanding an explanation for that kind of payment to a disgraced official?
That Bill Kristol wanna-be with the gleaming white chicklets on his teeth was creepy.
If I were a UF student I would be angry.
Many of them here are.
On the bright side, Dr. Kevorkian is scheduled to speak in Jan..
And he took no questions from the audience.
Which would have be an expercise in futility, as congress found out. There are only so many ways you can say " I don't know" or " I don't remember".
sheesh...exercise
Given how Gonzales pretty much gave Bush the green light to water boarding, congress should have water boarded him right there during all of those hearings when his memory got "hazy". Just imagine seeing that on cspan.
sam sneed @ 12:
Not balls-- abject arrogance and lack of honor
I think we should start a nation wide campange to start stoning polititians and corrupt official's like Gonzo. I'm not talking about bricks but if everyone in the audience carried one stone in their pocket and all at once started throwing them at this cocksucker then the world would be a better place.
Stones don't set off metal detactors.
The report was pretty stupid,especially sinve the reporter could notpronounce habeas corpus correctly.
Don't forget to donate some monopoly money to Gonzo's defense fund. Need info?
ggy @ 57:
While I like the idea,it seem a bit too violent unless by stoning them you mean getting them stoned like we used to in the 60s.
Goddess bless those protesters. I heard them on the radio this morning and cheered.
Maybe when he gets out of prison he can describe his own experiences in that field for a hefty fee.
goatsage @ 5:
I agree with that! They should be honored and applauded for their stand!
I'm very proud of the prtestors, especially those who were arrested, and proud of those who jeered. Good to see the upcoming generation getting about the business of getting their heads and their hearts screwed on correctly.
Spock @ 31:
I'm not disagreeing with you but what crimes did Ahmadinejad commit? I don't think I've heard of any yet. gonzos crimes are many and well known of course.
Don't throw stones.
Much better to toss them pennies, it is more symbolic as it is greed that motivates these thieves. For extra added affect, put a drop of blood on it.
get used to it, Gonzo... you're OJ without the Bronco...
they should've built a naked pyramid in front of Gonzo...
That would be hilarious.
And the Heroes of the day are students Richard Gutierrez and Kevin Hachey.
Peace.
Wait a minute....he was paid 40K from a fund that is student funded and the bastard wouldn't even answer questions? Oh, I forgot - it's that whole I don't recall thing isn't it?
This criminal receives 40K for his speech, and what is the poverty level in this country again? For a family of four?
It's great to be a Bushie isn't it?
Pete Bogs @ 68:
That woulda just reminded him of his fratboy days.
liberalNmoderation @ 50:
That's Renfield, as played by Dwight Frye. Igor was a broken necked shepherd who survived a hanging and was played by Bela Lugosi in Son of Frankenstein and Ghost of Frankenstein. Fritz was the doctor's assistant in the original Frankenstein and was a hunchback played by Dwight Frye, who later played simple thug named Carl in Bride of Frankenstein.
PeteN @ 3:
Me too, and probably the week. Maybe even longer.
I'm tired of these neo Pinochetists getting welfare bookings on the speaking circuit
The hooded guys are great, and let's not overlook those who stood with thei backs to him. Good for all of them.
That "it should be fun" guy (yeah-- right!), in the suit, might be the next Karl Rove. (See Nixon campaign video, circa 1972)
My question is: Why would the University of Florida pay this clown 40 thousand dollars to talk about anything? Wouldn't that money have been better spent buying Thanksgiving meals for the homeless in Gainesville?
Besides, isn't he headed for Leavenworth?
TREATOR to AMERICA and a waterboy to a corrupted president. He bend over forward for Cheney and bend over backward for the President.
Raising legal defense fund to defend himself from enabling the illicit expansion of the executive power and dismantling of settled laws of the land.
U of F Spends 40k to have this human paraquat speak.....Disgraceful!
Only 40K a pop for a Gonzo speech?
He could easily double his take if he let people piss on him.
Have your people contact my people, Speedy.
He got paid $40K to speak to 732 people. No wonder it costs so much to go to college these days. I wonder if they paid $54.65 each to hear him? Who paid the rent on the auditorium, the security guards, the tasers, the insurance? bet it really cost the college about $100,000 to hear this traitor speak.
I didn't hear him ask for forgiveness. That means I'm free to still despise him for the traitor and the foreign agent he is.
Um, you got 40K, and you won't take questions? Aaawww, why not Gonzo? Why only pre-approved questions from obedient index cards?
Assclown.
sam sneed @ 14:
You said it well. I hope that this particular image haunts all of the bastards.
doesn't he look proud......?.....and that student ....manoman....yeah...he's got some big stones.
Bravo!
...
Go Gators!
I want to know how someone decided it was a good idea to pay that corrupt dimwit $40k to speak about anything, especially public service.
The University of Florida can surely do better than Gonzales for $40k... maybe have Dwayne "Dog" the bounty hunter speak about racial sensitivity or maybe Britney Spears could give a lecture on parenting.
Seeing students protest makes my day. May there be more pictures like these as we haunt these guys for the rest of their lives.
sofla @ 90:
Or maybe George Bush could speak on lying with finesse.
Great action done with a nice balance of decorum and in your face bravado!
pursang said it.. a family could live for a year on what ths criminal got for saying nothing for an hour!! this makes my blood boil!
Indigowatcher @ 49:
The perks of hiring a "PR firm" to rehabilitate your image (so you can sell books, and make a few million from speaking tours and television). And of course, U of F was happy to oblige.
paranoia @ 18:
What a fucking joke.
Yeah, when I think MAJOR population centers or world-famous landmark buildings, I think Portland. Seriously PORTLAND? For LOCAL BUS SERVICE?! I'm assuming Oregon, but so much the worse if Maine. WTF, would you possibly need to search a citizen for in PORTLAND? Unless, of course, that is a lie and they do it because they can. Fishing expedition doesn't even cover it. Why not just start opening up and searching the Lexus and Mercedes in the parking garages? It's just as constitutional (or more so)? They could sure as hell store a lot more explosive that a person boarding a bus, travel to many more crowded areas, and the terrorist backers have plenty of cash (thanks to the rise in oil prices). Hmm... gee, I wonder why they don't...
Why are you submitting to an unreasonable search of your person without probable cause? Do they ask for your papers before you board the bus? How many checkpoints are there in Portland?
Do not accept their excuses. That brave kid in the orange clothes didn't, and I think that's the right move. I hope the police treated him right, as he obviously posed no physical threat.
What a country!
Where else in the world can you have a $190,000/year job that you do so poorly that you are forced to resign in disgrace and then make 440,000 speeches about it.
Only in BushCo's America!
OOps! Sorry, Typo . . . I meant $40,000 speeches
My husband wouldn't wear his glasses when he was a teen, and when his worried mother told him that he needed to wear them when driving he said, "Mom, I only drive down streets I know". And so it is for the Bushies. You won't see any of the the present or former members of this administration going anywhere but places in the South, military bases, Vets groups, or the Chamber of Commerce. Thus, we have Gonzales making a speech at the University of Florida.
It's great, though, that he didn't even fare well ,"Driving down streets he knows".
ysbaddaden @ 74:
Gonzo didn't have fratboy days. He attended my alma mater, wherein fraternities and sororities were banned after some bad hazing incidents. Also, Gonzo clearly forgot our Honor Code, or he wouldn't be in deep yogurt now. Do remember, Gonzo is STILL in deep yogurt. It's only a matter of time...
Good for these college kids. That is fucking awesome.
Who are these 800 people who came to hear the lying little weasel speak? I would never do him that honor. gonzales deserves to be shunned and ignored from now on, assuming we can't find a way to put him in prison where he belongs.
eh...... i guess he doesn't get a hint that some of us.. pretty much 'hate' him because he continue to say.. he doesn't recall. And that he basically broke the constitutional law...
Uh...it was NOT "Alberto's first speaking engagement...." Actually, VO-5 spoke in Corpus Christi, Texas a couple of weeks before he started the college tour. His host was the local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which probably isn't quite as right wing as the United States Chamber but more likely was scraping the bottom of the barrel to come up with the most "prominent" Hispanic they could book. And VO-5 had some protestors here, too, only they were carrying picket signs outside the banquet hall, not inside. One of them was a local attorney, Abel Cavada, an activist and progressive who also writes for a local tabloid, We the People.
Honestly, I was really against paying Gonzales $40,000 to come speak at UF. A lot of students were, even that douchebag Andrew "Don't tase me, bro!" Meyer was against (twist ending, he's a Paultard). But that picture is really worth ever penny. I'm really upset I forgot all about it. :(
This bum should be tar and feather and taken to the mexican border and a shoe kick up his ass if he try,s to come back across blow his head off.
Hmmm, don't think that whole rightwing lecture circuit thing is gonna work out too well Big Al.... Maybe you need a friendlier audience.. I hear North Korea likes the sort of shit you were slinging as AG... Maybe you'll get more than a 'few' cheers there asshole.....JD
Several of gonzo's actions during his tragic tenure amount to treason. He should be charged, tried and executed by hanging - along with several others in the cheney/bush neo-fascist administration.
[Deleted. This site does not advocate extraditing former public servants to Cuba for the purposes of being placed in a small bamboo cage and being jabbed with a sharp stick]
Tribute to the Real Gonzo, H.S.T..
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