In 2005, the City of Pasadena ordered Briggs and his wife, Mary Gravel (pictured above), to remove two signs they had posted at their home in support of antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan. The couple had mounted one sign reading "Support Cindy Sheehan," and another with "War Starts With 'W.' Bush Lied. People Died." The signs violated city ordinances and the couple was threatened with a $500 fine. After initially complying with the municipal code, the Briggs' filed suit in Federal District Court alleging abridgment of their First Amendment rights. The ACLU brief is here. A Los Angeles Times report on the lawsuit is here. And ACLU's press releases are here: "Pasadena to Residents: Watch What You Say," and "Pasadena to Allow Residents to Hang Political Signs." The second ACLU report notes:
City officials say they plan to rewrite an ordinance regulating the posting of political signs on residential property and the city attorney has recommended the city stop enforcing some of the regulations until a new ordinance is written.That's an important victory for the couple and for freedom of speech.
What's ironic is that, in my interaction with him, I found Patrick Briggs totally hostile to the political opinions of his opponents. Mr. Briggs was bellicose and confrontational - "NO SOUP FOR YOU!" He was essentially telling conservative activists at the Schiff event STFU. He was, in other words, a brutish thug. As I reported yesterday:
The guy ... is an ObamaCare goon. He was aggressively in-your-face making juvenile "L" for loser hand signs, telling conservative activists to "shut up and get out of the way." He kept yelling "loser!" loser"! "Health reform now"! He also started yelling "Wait until 2012!" at conservatives who tried to speak back to him. I talked calmly with the guy. I asked him "why should the democratic process come to a halt if your side won?" He couldn't answer the question. He was confident and said "Obama's health care is coming and you guys can try to win in 2012." I guess that's the street-level version of President Obama's "I don't want folks who created the mess doing a lot of talking."That's right. Briggs didn't want to hear ObamaCare opponents "doing a lot of talking." He's a classic example of radical leftists who only support First Amendment rights when their issues are under challenge. If conservatives have an opinion, that's fascist and their views should be regulated as hate-speech. Typical.
In any case, Briggs is a hardliner with the Pasadena chapter of Democracy for America. The group is registered as a "Non-federal '527' Political Organization" under FEC guidelines and supports "progressive issues and non-federal Democratic candidates."
He also an Organizing for America cadre. He was the contact person for Tuesday's Democratic Astroturfing activities for the Schiff event. Here's the Oganizing for America link and information:
| Time: | Tuesday, August 11 from 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM |
|---|---|
| Host: | Patrick Briggs |
| Contact Phone: | 626-664-3487 |
| Location: | Alhambra Civic Center Library – Community Room (Alhambra, CA) 101 S. 1st St. Alhambra, CA 91801 |
As reported by the Los Angeles Times, Briggs is also a member of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena." Interestingly, it turns out that the church's Rector Emeritus, George Regas, has been an outspoken critic of the Bush administration. A Los Angeles Times profile is here. Regas is closely allied with a number of hardline leftists organizations, including the neo-Stalinist International ANSWER. The All Saints Church is mentioned in this article, "A Small Protest Against Anti-War Elitists in Pasadena, California." And Regas is identified in a 2009 article here, along with both ANSWER and Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans.
In 2007, at the Democracy for America website, Patrick Briggs reported on Regas' push for impeachment proceedings against then-Vice President Dick Cheney. See, "All Saints Episcopal Church - Rector Ed Bacon Advocates Impeachment Investigations of Cheney in July 1 Sermon!"
Briggs signed this manifesto, "IMPEACHMENT: RESOLUTION TO IMPEACH BUSH AND CHENEY."
Plus, in 2007, Briggs threw his support as a DFA member behind the local grocery union's thug agitation (United Food and Commercial Workers). See, "Southern California Grocery Workers - When Unions Prosper, America Prospers."
Briggs' Pasadena chapter of Democracy in America was also an affilated organizing cell of the White Rose Coalition Protest at Pasadena's Rose Parade. Kevin Lynn of Democracy in America posted an announcement and photo for the event at Revolution, a local newspaper for the Revolutionary Communist Party (here). And, Cindy Sheehan published a commentary at AfterDowningStreet.org on January 1, 2008, "The White Rose and the Rose Parade." Daily Kos posted on the event the same day, "'IMPEACH" signs at the Rose Parade":
Patrick Briggs, in the various capacities I've noted here, has either actively or incidentally promoted the work of these organizations. And by mounting signs on his home saying "Support Cindy Sheehan" and "War Starts With 'W.' Bush Lied. People Died," Patrick Briggs unequivocally endorsed the statements of a deeply troubled woman who called President Bush a "lying bastard," a "filth spewer," an "evil maniac," a "fuehrer," and a "terrorist" guilty of "blatant genocide."
And now, this man, Patrick Briggs, is out telling citizen anti-ObamaCare demonstrators to STFU, "you guys can try to win in 2012."
Other than that, I'm sure he's a real nice guy.
Briggs' Flickr antiwar photostream is here, with LOTS of America-bashing iconography. Also, a bunch of Patrick Briggs news citations at the Pasadena Public Library are here.
9 comments:
A real nice guy??? Yeah, I'm sure of it too... NOT! What an arrogant goon!
Thanks RaDena!
Patrick (Prick) Briggs is just the sort of wind-up simpleton Obama needs to do his dirty work. Just feed him a new set of talking point, and push him out the door.
What is it with the left and the phony preachers? George Regas would fit right in at Trinity United.
Great job, exposing this lousy loony tune. Good for his g00gle searches.
Thanks Serr8d!
I saw this creepy bastard too. What you did NOT see, and why I am unrestrained about this guy, was the sign I saw him walking around with. "Hey, you forgot your hoods". The implication is those of us opposed to President Obama and his wanting to nationalize one-sixth of the private economy are nothing more than racists. One of the people I was at the town hall with went and reminded him who were the founders and leaders of the KKK. D E M O C R A T S! And let us not forget Sen. Robert Byrd, a known leader of the West Virginia Klan. Disgusting. I forgot about this member of All Socialists church. And, I can and will write that as I am still an Episcopalian.
I'm not surprised he had that sign at all, Mark. Thanks for sharing that important piece of information!
Interestingly, most of these tired, worn and untrue pejoratives used by the Left have a life cycle. The Left can only use them so much before everyone sees these pejoratives as lacking credibility.
This is especially true when larger and larger groups of individuals become the target. It is why I have stated in the past that my hope is that the Left sticks to these pejoratives, because they lack the capacity to defend their side with reasoned argumentation, until the pejoratives have no credibility at all. This does now seem to be happening and the response of turning those pejoratives into jokes and satire at the Left's expense is what should happen. Crying wolf only works so long.
"If I can do no right then your opinion is of no value! Something the Left should keep in mind.
It is always interesting that at a point that anyone thinks they have real power is when it all starts to fall apart. The more you begin to believe you are better, smarter and more human than others is when you are destined to be hoisted on your own petard.
Hi, Patrick Briggs here. You have a lot of spare time on your hands. Just noticed your research.
You haven't even scratched the surface of who I am. Suffice to say that anybody stumbling on your site will immediately see the kind of people you are....and not take your criticism of me too seriously.
On the other hand, most people have a pretty good idea of who Bush and was (hint - not too popular) and what the Republican Party has become (hint - again not too popular affiliation these days).
You guys are a noisy bunch. Have fun continuing to tilt at windmills. I meanwhile will continue to do what I believe in.
Lots of love,
Patrick
Look again, Briggs. The Democrat party will commit political suicide, passing that lurching zombie of a health care bill. There's no strong support. You WILL NOT GET FREE HEALTH CARE, ever!
Is it 2010 yet? Just a while longer. Dems will get a well-deserved thrashing; SEIU thugs and ACORN liars and cheats notwithstanding.
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