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I just wanted to be included in the replacement needed posters mailing list. I would appreciate if you send them
to me. I have gotten a few and I have been sending them to my home country Nicaragua where my friends are already putting
them out on the streets, in their Universities, coffee shops, supermarkets and places that they frequent often. I have also
been sending them to California, where I used to live before I came to Seattle and my friends there are doing the same.
Since I am going to California in January to live, I would like to keep receiving them so that I can put them up all over
the place.
We are happy to help, thank you.
Replacements Needed
An interesting E-Mail that we received
Replacements.com,
I'm sure this one email won't make a difference to your disgusting operation
that you're
running, but I couldn't just let something so un-patriotic slip
past me without commenting. Your poster reached me in
Texas, where we not
only overwhelmingly support our President, but above all our troops!!!! No
matter what your feelings
on the war may be, showing mutilated bodies of our
brave soldiers fighting for your lazy asses is absolutely unexceptable!!!!
I'm sure you think you're really doing it for them, but you're not. It's
people like you who digust them, and distract
them from getting their job
done. I can't tell you how happy I am that people like you are not in power
because you
would send our country running with it's tail between it's legs.
Do me a favor, and just leave the country as soon as
possible because you are
a disgrace to the men and women who have died to make this country what it is today!!!
We
here at Replacements Needed feel that the Freedom of Speech is one of our most basic of rights therefore we encourage both
sides of this issue to engage in meaningful and open dialogue free of name calling and other such obvious school yard tactics
that are to often used now days to muddy the waters and distort the true issue which is "Why are our citizens dying in a country
that did not attack us and that we had no valid provocation to invade?"
A Message Sent July 30th 2005
Mr. Hays:
I read the article about you in the Capitol Hill Times this week, and
now I have a name and face for the person who has been trashing my neighborhood for the past year or so.
I'm sure you know that the City of Seattle has regulations which govern
postering (SDOT "Director's Rule 02-02," effective January, 2003), and I'm also sure you know that you are ignoring several
of these regulations. You use glue to affix your posters, and this is specifically disallowed. You do not put
the date of posting on the posters nor do you remove them before the 30 day maximum term of posting. And you place your posters
on all kinds of structures which are not allowed, such as traffic signal control boxes, bus shelters, public trash cans, and
fire hydrants. You then have the gall to put a statement on your website stating that you do not condone violations of any
local ordinance which inhibits posters, and even provide a recipe for a glue which is intended to make sure the posters stay
up indefinitely. What hypocrisy! You might get real and either remove that material from your website or begin
to honor the regulations, preferably the latter.
I think it's quite ironic that you do most of your postering on
Capitol Hill and nearby neighborhoods, because the vast majority of people in these areas agree with your anti-military and
anti-war point of view. Those few individuals who support the war are not going to be swayed by seeing one of your posters
- in fact, I think their opinion will be hardened. So just what do you think you are accomplishing? You are certainly
entitled to your beliefs,but you are not entitled to trash our streets in clear violation of city regulations.
There are lots of ways you could express your beliefs in a non-destructive manner.
In the article, you dismiss those who are critical of your activity
by saying that there are other problems on Broadway and other parts of Capitol Hill. Of course there are! But
this is classic denial and avoiding responsibility for your postering.
The other problems do not give you the right to contribute to the downhill
slide of the area by creating alot of visual blight on our streets. Have you even ever heard of the well-accepted "broken
window" theory of urban decay? I suggest that you read up on it,because what you are doing is equivalent to breaking
windows.
I think it's really too bad that you have so little regard for the physical
beauty of Seattle that you vandalize all kinds of city structures. You seem to be an individual who is going to do what
he wants to do regardless of what anyone else thinks.
There are three words for a person like you: arrogant, self-righteous,
and selfish.
Greetings & Salutations
Kind Sir
I sense some hostility in your recent email. Perhaps you
feel that me putting posters on phone poles etcetera is making your neighborhood look bad. Have you ever considered what our
bombs are making the Iraqi neighborhoods look like? Do you even realize that each and every single week we update the body
counts on these posters? Do you realize that those are not just numbers placed there to annoy you, but that they signify men
and women who have died in a conflict that you seem to be bored with? If you have this violent of a reaction to the posters
just think how violently you would react if Marines commenced bombing your neighborhood and killing your neighbors, would
you want someone to count you amongst the dead or simply ignore your rotting corpse and pretend it did not happen?
An E-Mail received July 30th 2005
I have seen a few of your posters
on the streets in Seattle and I was apauld when I got home and saw the news bashing what you are doing. I think that
what you are doing is fantastic and I hope that it can wake some people up to what is really happening. It makes me
sick when I watch the news and they give 2 minutes on the news to soldiers that have died in a war that we never should have
gotten into. I have lost 3 friends in the Iraq war and who knows how many more by the time it is finally over.
Either way I'll keep this short to not take up to much of your time. Just wanted to let you know there are people out
there that support what you are doing and hope you continue.
Iraq war hater,
MATT
Matt
Thanks a bunch, as you can tell the emails that I get most often are from the haters its
always good to hear from someone who actually gets it and does not have their head shoved up their own ass with their foot
stuck in their mouth. Keep spreading the word and together we will all fight this thing. Each in their own way and each to
their own means by whatever means necessary brother.
Thomas:
Hey there. I had
no idea you were the one behind this travesty. Shame, shame, shame on you, Mr. Hays, for telling it like it is.
So many people are unable to deal with such honesty. You should pander to their inability to face the music and simply
stop tooting your own horn. After all, isn't it the weak who we're trying to defend, here? If you really care
about the weak, you should take notice of the weak all around you, in your own city, and STOP OFFENDING THEM! They might
just fall over dead from the shock if they ever actually read the posters, or realize what it truly means. You should
protect THEM. Nobody cares about Iraqi's so just focus on the rich, the well off, the blind, the idiots... the typical
Americans. Mmkay?
Matt
Thanks for the kind words. I agree, well
mostly. It would seem that the recent article in the Capitool Hill Times has garnered some rather interesting letters to the
editor. One called me a misguided twit and left me reeling from the eloquence and stellar writing skills of its author. Another
likened me to the prophet Elijah as he troubled king Ahab, and I seem to trouble everyone. I guess we all have our callings
in life and mine seems to be to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable, if thats the die that fate has cast for
me so be it. Let the troubling begin!
TH
09-17-05
Hello,
Please stop defacing city property. I am
sure that you do not have a permit to post these signs. I have written the mayor, city council and DOT. I have pictures
of your signs placed on top of city property. I will pursue this to make sure that your organization is held accountable for
the costs of the city removing the signs and repairing the damage. It is wrong to destroy my city just to voice your opinion.
Seattle resident
Robert P.
Robert
Have
you taken this much energy to voice your opposition to the fact the people on both sides are dying in a conflict that we "preemptively"
started? Just curious.
TH
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An E-Mail we received on 11-11-05
Mr. Hays,
Young children act out and misbehave in order to get attention
from their parents.
Teenagers have an angry need to piss of their parents and
other adults in their lives. Most people outgrow these negative behaviors as they mature into responsible adults, but
some never go through this process, and you are obviously one of them.
I think your illegal and obsessive postering has everything
to do with the above, and very little to do with getting a message out. I hope you will consider this, and try to grow
up a little
Calhoun
Calhoun
Perhaps in some far distant corner of your mind you thought that by insulting
me you could get your message across to me?
Perhaps you thought that your mindset is the only appropriate mindset and therefore
by being condescending towards me you could pump up your own ego?
Perhaps you feel that the posters are in poor taste or that the message is ineffectual
and thought by comparing them to childish tantrums you could shame me into ceasing my project?
Perhaps you think that I and I alone am placing posters on the myriad of surfaces
that you have witnessed them on and could therefore attempt to frighten or silence me by your email?
Perhaps you are simply someone who is unhappy with your life and find it necessary
to belittle others in order to make yourself feel better about your own pathetic life?
Perhaps you are a closed minded bigot who feels a righteous indignation at being
lied to by your president and feel it is a good idea to bash those who have ALWAYS opposed this war?
Perhaps you are a slack jawed, simple minded fool who sits around in your whitey
tighties watching German dungeon porn and sucking cheese whiz out of the nozzle?
Perhaps you are some sort of jabbering idiot who has sex with barnyard animals
to earn the needed funds to meet your expenses?
Perhaps you are some sort of war monger who thinks that killing innocent people
so that we can maintain our standard of living is acceptable?
Regardless of the situation you lost my attention and respect when
you started out your communication with me by trying to belittle me. You seem to think that my ego is so fragile that an email
from someone I’ve never met and will never meet comparing me to a child is going to make me stop this campaign. That
is a fantasy that only you entertain.
I appreciate that you took your time to express your viewpoint and will do everything
in my power to share that viewpoint with the folks who come to my website. After-all this is America and we do still have
freedom of speech whether you like what the other guy is saying or not you damn well better be ready to fight to the death
for his/her right to say it or you have betrayed your country and all it stands for.
Think about that next time you tell someone their opinion is childish
or irrelevant.
TH
Saturday, November 12, 2005 4:26 PM
TH,
You missed my point entirely. It is not your message
I am opposed to, but the trashing of our streets for no reason
(you're not changing anyone's mind).
Your irrational rant only proves what I suspected:
that you are a fanatic who will do what he wants to do, regardless. I will have no further time for you, except to remove
your ineffective posters whenever I can.
Calhoun
An email from Seattle Department of
Transportation
10-20-05
Mr. Hays:
We have received a complaint about
your postering on Capital Hill.
According to our Director Rule, glue is prohibited as a means to attach
signs to public
poles. Please remove all posters that you have glued to
poles. Staples and tape are acceptable substitutes.
Failure to comply
with this request will result in a citation which does carry a fine.
If you have any questions,
please contact me either by e-mail or by
phone at (206) 615-1224.
Thank you.
Benita Staadecker
Seattle
Department of Transportation
Annual Permit Section - Team Lead
(206) 615-1224 - direct line
Benita
As I send the posters out on email to
several hundred people every
week, and post them on the website I cannot be held responsible for the
actions of others.
I would love to chat with you about this issue if you
so wish, but as I do not put up posters I do not see where this is
something
you can fine me for.
TH
Mr. Hays:
According to our Director Rule,
since your web site is the address on
the poster, you are responsible. My suggestion is that you contact your
names
and inform them that glue is prohibited. The information about
postering is available on the SDOT website if anyone
wants to get more
details. Thank you.
Benita Staadecker
Seattle Department of Transportation
Annual
Permit Section - Team Lead
(206) 615-1224 - direct line
Benita
I have posted your emails upon the website in hopes of sharing
with others your concerns. I look forward to the chance to address this issue in open court if need be, but feel that we can
reach resolution without lawyers.
TH
Hello,
I would like to use your posters
in an installation art exhibit I am doing. Is it possible to get permission? I am doing a show for the "Day of the Dead" at
Skagit Valley College in Mt. Vernon. I am reflecting on the Latinos that have died in this war for oil. The posters will occupy
a space of their own, probably placed 2 wide and ten high. These will be next to a wall that will be covered in 211 (so far)
8"x4" specially made beeswax coffin/candles, one for each Latino that has died as of the date of installation (and added to
as the month goes by --- hopefully this won't be necessary). If it works (makes sense visually) and I use your posters I will
give credit how ever you wish to be given credit. Thank you for considering this. It would also be nice if I could get posters
for October, September and August. Thanks so much for this great project you are doing, it would be an honor to add/collaborate
it in my show....
Miguel G
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An Email we Received Feb. 24th 2006
Hi Thomas, Sorry for the unspeedy reply. My job keeps me in the Air all the
time. East coast -- West Coast I never what time zone I will be sleeping.
As far as getting a group going...I am in
the other camp. I supported going into Iraq. I am still a supporter of our efforts. I thought it was way over due. I am just
sorry Hussin did not die in a combat way. Having said that it has turned into a political mess but we cannot go back in time--
what's done is done. Having been a former soldier myself I believe the only way to truly wage war is to beat whomever has
been the unlucky chosen into the ground. No quarter, no safehavens. You can only truly rebuild something after it has
been completely been beaten. The fight must be beaten out of them. Of course, now they are fighting each. The people over
there, the people we are fighting have a falsely arrogant perception of the world and their place in it even toward each other.
I have, in the pass, worked closely with people from that part of the world. I've even had a roommate who was Muslim.
In
the end you and I have no common ground. We see the world completely different...so I would greatly appreciate it if you would
please remove me from your mailing list.
I wish you all the best in all your endeavors...
James
Charlie
Which poster was it? USCS huh, that's cool to know that
you are actually seeing them there. Thanks for the feedback. Hopefully you didnt lose your appetite for cheap oil did you?
Keep in touch.
TH
A Message From S.D.O.T. 01-19-06
-----Original
Message-----
From: Seattle Dept. of Transportation (imailagent)
[mailto:sdotcrm@crm.seattle.gov]
Sent: Thursday,
January 19, 2006 9:52 AM
To: zebner@comcast.net; Cathy.Abene@seattle.gov;
patrice.gillespie-smith@seattle.gov
Subject:
Responding to your message (Intranet Quorum IMA00164602)
Dear Ms. Oelke:
I am responding to your letter on
behalf of Patrice Gillespie-Smith.,
concerning the Replacements Needed posters glued to City-owned property.
While
we appreciate your concerns about the nature of the posters, the SDOT
Street Use section is charged with enforcing the
City's Street and Sidewalk
Use code (Seattle Municipal Code Title 15).
The municipal code states that posters
may be legally applied to some
City-owned property, using a temporary means of application. The use of
glue, although
biodegradable, is by all practical definitions a permanent
application, as it is extremely time consuming to remove each
poster with
water and a putty knife. Additionally, the Replacements Needed posters are
illegally affixed to many places,
such as traffic control cabinets and other
fixtures that serve a specific public safety purpose on the streets.
We
cannot enforce against every poster that is illegally applied in Seattle,
nor do we single out the Replacements Needed
posters. Due to workload
restraints, we typically only respond to citizen complaints, and we have
issued many warnings
to other agencies that apply posters illegally. Other
agencies have been cooperative and responsive to our requests that
they
abide by Seattle laws.
Thank you again for taking the time to express your concerns. The
Replacements
Needed posters address an emotional subject, and call to mind
an important issue. SDOT supports the First Amendment right
to express your
opinion; however, we ask when you use posters to convey a message, that you
comply with existing City
of Seattle laws.
If you have further questions, please call the Annual Permits Hotline at
(206) 684-5267.
Sincerely,
Cathy Abene, P.E.
SDOT Street Use Division
A message from Brad R. Torgerson 11-14-05
Really, you need to reconsider what you are doing with ReplacementsNeeded.
This isn't just about one
person having their say and another person
having a different say anymore. This is about patent troop-bashing and
America-bashing. If this were simply about Bush-bashing, I'd probably not
care. I don't go around doing anti-Kerry
campaign bumper stickering.
Your ReplacementsNeeded posters often cross the line from mere political
commentary
to attacking to soldiery and mocking military service.
Consider: where was ReplacementsNeeded when Clinton
was in charge? He
sent troops to fight in the Third World, too. Was he misleading the
American people when
he sent cruise missiles to Khartoum?
Consider: Bush leaves office in three years. When he's gone, it's
probable
a Democrat will be in office, barring the rise of some populist
Republican who can distance himself, politically,
from the sinking Bush
ratings. If/when that new President takes office, we'll STILL have a
military and that
military will STILL need to recruit. ReplacementsNeeded
is friendly with the anti-recruitment scene at SCCC. How is
it possible
to merely be expressing ideas and fostering information exchange, when
ReplacementsNeeded is part
of the effort to PREVENT military personnel
from sharing information with citizens?
I don't think
myself, or a lot of other people, would be so upset if
ReplacementsNeeded was purely anti-Bush, and focused solely
on the
politicians in Washington D.C. What upsets us are the swastikas on the
American flag and skulls with
dollar signs in their eyes. We're upset by
the anti-military setiment prominent on many, if not all,
ReplacementsNeeded
posters. As I have said on my own posters, being in
the military is not just about shooting guns. The modern American
military helps far more people every year than it kills. Consider the
rescue efforts in the wake of Katrina,
or earlier, the Indonesian tsunami.
We who wear the uniform don't want people to shut up for the sake of
shutting
up. But we do want people to seriously think about how their
words and deeds actually help our enemies at home and
abroad; people with
no interest whatsoever in simply exchanging information freely. The
Islamists see something
like ReplacementsNeeded and laugh because they
know they've got dupes ready and willing to do their American propaganda
for them. Why demoralize the Americans when other Americans are busy
doing the demoralizing for them?
Think
on all of this next time you sit down to create another one of your
works of "art".
--Brad
Mr. Torgerson
I've appreciated
your posters for awhile now. Heck i even dedicated a page here to your posters I like them so much. Yet everytime you get
a chance you either attack me as some unamerican, anti-patriotic wack job or try to demean me in some way. I do not give in
to such tactics and think that they speak poorly of your character. If you really wish to get into a point by point discussion
concerning the actions of this administration I welcome it. If you just wanna attack people for exspessing their right of
free speech then I have no more time for your insults.
TH
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