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First off, a note from Captain Obvious: If it's true that the a prominent same-sex marriage opponent physically assaulted an activist from the other side in Worcester this weekend, then the the accused assaulter -- Larry Cirignano of Canton, according to the Telegram & Gazette -- should apologize, resign his post, and, if the victim prefers, stand trial. There's no room for physical hurt in a group called Catholic Citizenship.

That said, I spent the day today deleting more-breathless-by-the-minute e-mails from KnowThyNeighbor.org, a group that would prefer to say it's pro-marriage rights for all, although it's more accurate to say the group is anti-people who are anti-marrige rights for all.

So the facts of the case, as asserted by the Telegram's Richard Nangle (who was there) and KnowThyNeighbor.org, are that one "Sarah Loy, a 27-year-old marriage equality supporter" from Worcester, attempted to make her position known during a Saturday rally at City Hall. Surrounded by green "Let the People Vote!" sign-toters, she carried placard reading "No discrimination in the Constitution." Allegedly, Cirignano at this point asked her to leave, grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her to the ground.

Well, faster than you can say "Ronal C. Madnick," in swooped Tom Lang of KnowThyNeighbor.org, updating all us newsmedia folk about the progress of the case throughout the weekend and Monday.

Here's an excerpt from my favorite press release-slash-blog post of the day:

Lang, who attended all four of the so-called "Democracy Rallies" held over the last week by anti-gay marriage activists, reacted by saying, "The attack on Ms. Loy was nasty and disgraceful. Mr. Cirignano should be ashamed and has shown that he doesn't belong in a leadership position."

Hey, no problem so far, although I'm not a huge fan of the "sneer quotes" around "Democracy Rallies." But KnowThyNeighbor.org's base principles dictate that they have to call the constitution-amending process "undemocratic," so let's let that one go. The best part is the next paragraph:

Lang said that he wasn't totally surprised by this act of violence noting that "the rhetoric and actions of the anti-gay marriage activists has reached a fever pitch since their amendment was sidelined by the 109 legislators that voted to recess the Constitutional Convention." He notes that VoteOnMarriage.org, sponsor of the anti-gay marriage amendment, has even printed Wild West, Dead-or-Alive-style Wanted posters that have the legislators' photos and home phone numbers on them. And the legislators' home addresses have been posted on the VoteOnMarriage.org website where anti-gay marriage supporters are instructed to urge the legislators to take a vote "or face the potential consequences."

Paying attention, kids? This is where Tom Lang uses an allegedly criminal action -- assault on Main Street -- to introduce a talking point in which he actually criticizes activists (not the "right kind" of activists, of course) for telling voters how to contact their legislators and drawing attention to legislators' public, roll call votes.

Let's get this straight. Tom Lang of KnowThyNeighbor.org is "not surprised" that a conservative turned violent, because conservative groups posted public information about officials we elected in an effort to publicize public votes taken by those elected officials. This is allegedly a warning sign of Gestapo tactics to come.

What, then, do we make of KnowThyNeighbor.org's most famous site feature -- the one that gave this organization its name? The one they simply call "The List"?

Everyone who signed the petition asking for a constitutional amendment vote on same-sex marriage had his or her name recorded by the Secretary of State's office; and every one of those names is now publicly posted on KnowThyNeighbor.org. There are 11 pages of names in my ZIP Code alone (and I'm not one of them).

So are we to be "not surprised" if mobs of gays start pushing around any straights who wander into Provincetown or Northampton?

Or can we all -- unlike hotheads like Cirignano and Lang -- simply discuss this thing rationally and make it a true "rally for democracy" on both sides?