YLF Visits Benchmark.. Hilarity Ensues...

[Antigen]

Welp.. We paid our last visit to Benchmark last night. Didn't get much of a reaction from them.. That is the staff just stood out front and stared at us and wouldn't allow the students to interact with us in anyway. More telling is the staff member who threatened to call the police on us again when Psy tried to talk to some parents.

Staff Goon: I'm going to have to ask you to not talk to the parents or I will call the police.

Psy: Go ahead.


Me: lols.

LOL, reminds me of my very first protest on SAFE in Orlando. Loretta Parrish, the "queen bee" of the hive at the time, stood stalwart outside the front door, arms crossed, staring straight ahead, impassive, protecting her flock of followers. Li'll Kimmy Fee (really! 5' nothin, if that, of concentrated jersey girl) took the bullhorn in hand and said "Loretta! You're closing off! What are you hiding?" Loretta's eyes went wide and jaw dropped as she snapped her hands to her sides. Priceless!

Rock on, rock on! I know you did more good than can ever be told by letting those kids wittness BM staff bend to the will of the local cops wrt the passport and by just being unafraid yourselves. Rock on, rock on!

[Che Gookin]

Psy... please process the ronnie episode of me trying to get him to read the book.. LOLS... hahaah.

[Che Gookin]

psy:

LOLs... That was so much fucking fun. OK. I'm converting that video segment now... You've convinced me. That one other cop was an asshole, though (the one who played the "bad cop" routine so badly).

Well the feeling I got from the "bad" cop was mandatory bad cop routine time and once he talked to his partner he looked pissed off that his time was being wasted by Benchmark. Both the "bad" cop and the other two all seemed relieved to hear from us that we would leave the Ed Center for the time being so they could get on with the search for the suicidal dude who was roaming the streets of Redlands.

Proof my friends that if you approach the police in the right way you may well win support from the local authorities by challenging their preconcieved notions of protestors in general. I don't mean start screaming, "MOFO I gots Jonny Cochoran!" I do mean be polite.. be firm but not abrasive.. and be willing to talk back and forth..

Me too. If I'm not complete fricking broke after Budget Rent-A-Car ass-raped my bank account for 598 dollars (advertised as around 150). Boy do those assholes tack on extra shit.

Total expenditures for me comes out to about 1400 dollars... BUT so worth every damn penny. We will have to go a raiding next year when I get back from Korea again.

No. This was Mister Alaska who threatened to call the cops on me for making non-program-approved contact with the parents. They want to control the parent's communication. (again, read Cults In Our Midst if you're scratching you're head)

Yeah... It was Ronnie who got in my face.. Mr. Alaska is the one I actually admired from a staff point of view for controlling the situation when we showed up and kept a big scene from breaking out like those other two dolts the night before.  Still hopefully the mere fact that Mr. Alaska was treating a bunch of adults like 12 year olds should demonstrate to the students that they are being hosed.


Gotta say home slice that this last week was the high light of my 3 month vacation. It was the most tiring, stressful, and emotionally frustrating, but... I had the most fun.. Not even scuba diving in Palawan came as close to this week.. and that is some damn good diving to be had in Palawan.

Like I said.. next year lets do eeet aGaiN!

[Ursus]

Rock on, rock on! I know you did more good than can ever be told by letting those kids wittness BM staff bend to the will of the local cops wrt the passport and by just being unafraid yourselves. Rock on, rock on!

I agree.  It is SO hard to have a perspective on reality when you're in one of these places.  Watching staff interact with someone from the outside who knows what it is like on the inside -- AND thinks it is a crock of shit -- is priceless.
 
:tup:  :tup:  :tup:

Proof my friends that if you approach the police in the right way you may well win support from the local authorities by challenging their preconcieved notions of protestors in general. I don't mean start screaming, "MOFO I gots Jonny Cochoran!" I do mean be polite.. be firm but not abrasive.. and be willing to talk back and forth..

Consequences and repercussions (lols) from getting the neighbors and local police sniffing in the right direction will hopefully go on for quite some time longer.  Once that door is cracked a little open, it doesn't usually get closed again.

It's been an inspiring week "watching" this go down.  Thanks ever so much, Che and Psy!!

[Anonymous]

What happened to the kid who wanted to go live with his GF?  Did he make it out?  If so, then it stands to reason he may be able to persuade others to at least consider their options, especially if he is near by.  As for the police, I think psy and che went a long way toward educating them on what goes on at this place and why they should not make any presumptions about the kids who do choose to exercise their free will and get the hell outta dodge.  If anything, they (the police) should be doing all they can within the realm of their sworn duty to protect and enforce the rights of these adult-age kids if they end up on the streets.  The last thing they need (or deserve) is to be treated like criminals in some false pretense to protect the community.  They are the community!

Well done guys.  Looking forward to the summation and video, also any news about the dude who wanted out in terms of how he's doing on the outside.  Hopefully you can keep in touch.

[psy]

Oh dear.  Aaron really needs to learn to work the camcorder.  He keeps forgetting to turn it off when the cops come.  Oh dear...  So I'll let you guys have this as a taster.  Make sure to download and SEED.  If fornits users host torrents we can reduce load on the server.  Torrents were made for this stuff.  Have at it.

More to come soon.  Benchmark... You're so utterly fucked.  Fucked beyond your wildest dreams.  Hopefully give Jayne a heart attack... oh wait..  that would require a heart to begin with. @parents:  if you don't like the word "fuck" you should listen to the staff talk when you aren't around.

streaming should start instantly.  Click here

[dishdutyfugitive]

It tried to load for quite awhile but never worked.

[Ursus]

Any way that can be made into an audio-only file at some point?  I get about 4 words out of every 10-15 seconds worth of time, not enough to follow even a single sentence...  That file is HUGE, for me at least...  :cry:

It does load, but it took me the last hour, and monopolized my computer during the whole time...  Perhaps I don't have the most robust connection...  :cry:  :cry:

[Anonymous]

It issss up at Lifffeleak, but the file iss too big for mossst humansss.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ab3_1196412573

Perhapsss Psssy could be ssso kind asss to ssssplit the file ssso that we may upload it on the YouTube? Ten minutesss or lesssss.

[Anonymous]

Aaron: I was waiting in line to go up in one of those speedboat parachutes.

Cop: How much do you weigh, Aaron?

Aaron: Um... err... well... 290 lbs.

Cop: Better hire a tug, Aaron.

[Ursus]

Aaron: I was waiting in line to go up in one of those speedboat parachutes.

Cop: How much do you weigh, Aaron?

Aaron: Um... err... well... 290 lbs.

Cop: Better hire a tug, Aaron.

 :rofl:  Land sakes, a poofty 290 lbs. ain't nothing to a great big ol' lardass like me!!!  Why, just one of my farts oughta blast that speeedyboat right along, no sweat!

[Che Gookin]

heh... amusing.

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

What the fuck is that?

[Anonymous]

What the fuck is that?

HELL if I know.  Maybe Charlene left cause Ursus FARTED.