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Zein & Gene German

protias

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2008
Messages
7,308
Location
SE, WI
Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort
Coalition to Stop Gun Violence: The two men who attacked the union activist in the Wisconsin state capitol were: 1) Henry Rahr, the owner of H&C Arms gun store in Milwaukee, and; 2) Gene German, the American Association of Certified Firearms Instructors Wisconsin State Director. Rahr will be arming new gun carriers and German will be training them.


5 hours ago
 

protias

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2008
Messages
7,308
Location
SE, WI
Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort
For months, people have been holding a "solidarity sing-a-long" in the Capitol every day at noon. There has never been an incident of violence. Until today... when the pro gun advocates came to witness the Assembly vote on the CCW bill -- yeah, you know, the one that's going to make us "safer" because now the "good guys" will protect us. Shame.


Tea Party Gun Rights activists visit Solidary Sing Along
During Solidarity Sing Along today (I wasn't there. I'm sharing experiences from others.): From Chris Larson "One way to ensure that the peaceful protests at the Capitol aren't peaceful anymore is for a Republican ex-Senator to come in with his friends,... one of whom punches a peaceful protestor in the face. Which just happened. Everyone should condemn this, especially Walker & Republican leadership." Tweets about the incident (mostly but not all from @joevittie): "Cop count last week @Solidarity Singalong, 5-10 officers at any time. 2day during violent Tea Party, gun nut attack? ZERO!!! #wiunion" "Solidarity friends confirm Tea bagger put a singer in a headlock & threw at least 1 punch. Frmr Rep St Sen Dave Zwien part of assault party" "a singer tried to grab their sign. One of the men put the singer in a headlock, punched him and broke his tooth." "Dave Zien raced his wheelchair around grnd level singing circle. He forced singers to move back as he nearly ran over everyone's feet." "Singalong friend: "The cameraman (Fox 6 News) was yukking it up with the assaulters and Dave Zien after the incident." "FoxNews 6 from Milwaukee was filming the whole time. There wasn't a single police officer in sight!" "Maybe if law enforcement had been monitoring Teabagger social networks instead of #wiunion, they could have prevented today's attack. #wiall" And the tweet that REALLY angered me? The guy that defended Solidarity Singers receives a disorderly conduct ticket. Really? Because if the police would have been there, then a citizen wouldn't have had to step up to make sure others were safe! ""Pizza Box Mike received a citation for Disorderly Conduct. He acted in our defense. The charge should be dropped immediately." - NDS" From a Solidarity Sing Along participant: I wrote this email to channel 3 of my account of the events, If you have anything to add, as there were many observers, please feel free to comment below: I was at the capitol as a participant in the Solidarity Sing Along today from 12 to 1pm. There were 3 Tea Party protestors there during most of the hour of the sing along. I was on the second floor balcony of the rotunda hanging one of those long vertical banners down. The tea partiers had their "Don't Tread on Me" snake flag and the two ambulatory tea partiers were walking around, holding up their flag for most of the hour-- other people told me this, I hadn't noticed them until the incident b/c they were up on the third floor for most of the hour and I was busy reading the lyrics from the songbook. Meanwhile the third teabagger was on the ground floor of the singing circle going around, supposedly running over people's toes in his wheelchair, and people had to step back as he was coming too close to them saying " Walker should be president"... The singing went on peacefully as it always does right up until the last few minutes, right before 1pm when the sing along is over. The teabaggers with the flag came onto the second floor and and hung their flag over the balcony and then they began walking around the circle holding their flag over the balcony. As they would encounter a participant in the sing along, they would just continue walking, and would drape their flag right over people's faces and/or banners if they were holding one. When these two men continued around the circle to where I was standing, holding my banner, I took a few steps away from the balcony edge still holding my banner as a way to prevent these men from putting their flag over me, but they continued to do it anyway. Just as they were draping their flag across my face, a member of the sing along came over, told the men to stop it, and pulled their flag down. instantly, the shorter tea partier grabbed this guy in a headlock and punched him in the mouth which resulted in a broken tooth. The guy who got punched did not initiate any physical force against either of the tea partiers holding the flag, he just was grabbing and trying to pull down their flag, never touching either of the men until he was trying to get himself free from the headlock. Some more sing along people came over and tried to break up the fight. moments later the police came upstairs to assess the situation. Several eyewitnesses including myself gave statements to the police and everyone who was involved in the assault. I was standing right there next to one of the tea partiers and saw the whole thing. This was only my second time at the sing along, and am saddened by the violence that occured today. This is the 15th week I believe of the sing along Mondays through Fridays, and the first time there was ever a violent incident instigated by the opposing side. they were very hostile and were trying to provoke and get a reaction from us. why would they drape their flag right over our faces, touching us, bumping their elbows into the sides of our heads as they walk across us to show their flag? They could have stayed in their own space and made their statement, or they could have even gone into the middle of the circle if all they wanted to do was make a statement. The Solidarity sing along is a peaceful, positive, fun and energetic hour. my grandma has taken my 5 year old daughter many times over the past several weeks when I was still teaching during the school year and it was always a fun and safe place to bring elderly or young children and everyone in between. Today was a sad day for the sing along. Another point is that several singers saw a fox news affiliate- fox 6 out of Milwaukee, and claimed that their cameras were rolling before the fight took place and that they may have it on video. There was some speculation that these people were hired or encouraged to come and cause trouble and disrupt our sing along, and they had the fox cameras there to record it as a way to put negative spin on the events at the capitol. Thank you and I hope that this and other similar stories are covered in a fair and balanced manner to inform the public. From Amy Noble: The man in the wheel chair is a former state senator, the man in the grey cap and the one in handcuffs are the "flag" assaulters. I was there, I did not see the punch or the head lock but know that it happened because I spoke with others who were there. The event was planned, they were baiting us from the beginning of the sing along, man in the wheel chair entered the circle and buzzed around shouting something about Scott Walker for President and shaking his fist. I thought he was gong to take a spill because he ran over peoples things (shirt, sign, purse) as he flew around. Much later I saw him and two other men watching us from an upper balcony. bit later they hung their "Don't Tread on Me" flag up there. Then they came down and hung it over the railing where we were, then they started moving along the edge of the railing, and as they encountered people they passed their arms over peoples heads and kept the flag hanging over the railing. VERY invasive, when they got to those holding the sing along banners it really got just too close and personal, a singer ran over and snatched the flag from them, he got head locked and punched in the face resulting in a broken tooth. Others were calling for Police, it all happened fast but in hindsight it was all planned on their part. Oddly, FOX news seems to have been there the whole time I am told...... Media on the event: http://wiscoprogressive.wordpress.c...nches-solidarity-singer-at-wisconsin-capitol/ http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/lo...b4-9c6f-11e0-b485-001cc4c03286.html?mode=more http://www.first-draft.com/2011/06/...thuggery-in-the-capitolfrom-tea-partiers.html http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/124320434.html http://www.facebook.com/notes/david...-attack-solidarity-sing-along/132539696825840 http://www.bluecheddar.net/?p=10210...ene-attack-solidarity-singer-in-capitol-today http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1983198752125.215075.1607936099 http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/...tier-Punches-WI-Solidarity-Singer-in-the-Face- http://www.channel3000.com/news/28315660/detail.htmlSee More
By: Kati Walsh





22 hours ago · Share


  • 6 people like this.



    • Craig Dunigan The Tea Partiers and one of the singers were all arrested.

      http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/124320434.html 22 hours ago




    • Joyce Stabenau Henry Rahr is from GB and is referred to as MG Henry. (Machine gun Henry) He is a firearms dealer. Eugene German is from Shorewood, Minn. (referred to as Gene German) and is a firearms instructor. The man in the wheelchair was wearing a shirt saying"Support your local soldiers for Jesus" also a FB page. He is a veteran and past Senator.Those are the three involved in this altercation. 22 hours ago



    • Aaron Dabson Anyone surprised? 22 hours ago




    • Linda Bruss Shameful.....it is an echo of the "goons" who were sent in to deal with union organizers in the early 1900's, 20's and 30's..... 22 hours ago




    • Scott Walter Well, when you have no real substantive rebuttal, or the vocabulary and intelligence to articulate anything close, this is what happens. 22 hours ago




    • Mary Quigley This is completely disgusting. 21 hours ago



    • Coalition to Stop Gun Violence Absolutely disgusting. Don't stop fighting this, WAVE. This is a great opportunity to reach out to other nonviolent activists (like Solidarity Sing Along) to ask for their assistance in repealing this very liberal and dangerous conceal carry law on Walker's desk. 7 hours ago · 1 personLoading...



    • Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort Thanks, CSGV. And, no worries. We won't stop fighting; there's way too much at stake!
 

Interceptor_Knight

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May 18, 2007
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2,851
Location
Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA
Here is the short version of events.... The singers did not like that the 2 men were walking around with a flag. It "bothered" them.
One of their own decided to take matters into his own hands and forcefully take the flag. His attack was met with resistance. They feel that it is OK for one of theirs to forcefully take a flag but not OK for the flag to be carried around in the first place or for someone to defend themselves from the attack. Typical....
 

protias

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2008
Messages
7,308
Location
SE, WI
Vicki McKenna is covering this on her show right now (1130, 11AM). It was a small blerp on what went on. Check out her facebook page for all that info.
 
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