"We weren't doing anything wrong" (Couple w/ anti-Bush shirts arrested)

[arlib]

I suppose we should be shocked at the actions of these few bad apples...:eyes:
I had to click on the link a number of times before it loaded properly, if it doesn't work at first, keep trying.

http://wvgazette.com/section/News/2004071346

Snip...<A husband and wife who wore anti-Bush T-shirts to the president’s Fourth of July appearance aren’t going down without a fight: They will be represented by lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union as they contest the trespassing charges against them Thursday morning in Charleston Municipal Court.

Police took Nicole and Jeff Rank away in handcuffs from the event, which was billed as a presidential appearance, not a campaign rally. They were wearing T-shirts that read, “Love America, Hate Bush.”

Spectators who wore pro-Bush T-shirts and Bush-Cheney campaign buttons were allowed to stay.>

[Ruffhowse]

1. When Bush is around, free speech is only allowed in .......

.....designated fenced in "free speech zones", miles from Bush. Welcome to Amerika.

[gratuitous]

2. I was in Charleston that day

We had a lovely protest of Stupidhead, his policies and his insane invasion on the steps of the Robert C. Byrd Federal Courthouse. Joined up with the charming folks of West Virginia Patriots for Peace, and we sang, chanted, danced and swayed in the sunshine and the thunderstorm.

I'll bet we had 10 times more fun than anyone at Bush's event.

[LibDemAlways]

3. Pretty soon Democrats will

have to wear some sort of identifying insignia or have a D tatooed on the forehead - par for the course in the Father...oops...Homeland.

[Bozita]

4. Retaliation: She lost her job with FEMA

This paper must be on dial-up. It takes forever to load.

from the article:

Nicole Rank arrived in Charleston soon after the Memorial Day floods. She was working as deputy environmental liaison officer for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, making sure cities and counties obeyed federal environmental laws as they repaired roads and bridges.

After police arrested the Ranks, fingerprinted them and took their mug shots, FEMA told Nicole Rank she was no longer needed in West Virginia.

“I have not been fired per se,” she said. “But I was released from this job. And when they release you from a job, you no longer get paid.”

[Skip Intro]

5. Wonder how many times the moron used the word "freedom" in his speech

What a stain on our country these un-American, hypocritical a**holes are.

[trof]

6. New Free Speech Zone:

Ashcroft to establish "Free Speech Zone"

FNS*-Washington D.C. 9/4/02
Attorney General John Ashcroft, after consultation with Department of Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge, and with the full approval of the Bush administration, has designated an official "free speech zone".

The government sanctioned zone is to be located in Hastings, Nebraska. According to General Ashcroft, it will be the only federally approved zone on the North American continent. By presidential decree, the facility will be designated as the "President George W. Bush North American First Amendment Zone" (PGWB NA-FAZ).

In a printed press release (distributed to the media by an unidentified official the U.S. Department of Justice), General Ashcroft stated: "After much prayer, fasting, reading of the Holy Scriptures, and soul searching it has been decided that continuing to allow cells of protesters to demonstrate in the same city with President George W. Bush endangers the president unnecessarily. For this reason the Army Corps of Engineers has constructed a fenced 4 acre site just outside of Hastings, Nebraska. It will be equipped with two (male and female) portable comfort stations, but no other rest facilities.

It is only about 20 miles south of I-80, and just 100 miles from the closest airport at Lincoln, Nebraska. It is centrally located in the U.S. so as to be accessible equally to all citizens. A special K-9 contingent of the Secret Service will man guard posts on a 24/7 basis. The gate will be locked, but the key will be on a special hook in the White House. Those desiring to avail themselves of the PGWB NA-FAZ should first submit (in triplicate) a completed and notarized Form DHS 331. Upon approval by the proper authorities, applicants may obtain the key for one day (24 hours) only, if they have oval office clearance. Those failing to return the key within a 24 hour period will be declared unlawful combatants and subject to imprisonment for an indefinite period.
Protests (verbal or written), disagreement with the administration, 'street theater', grumbling, grousing, whining, whinging, pouting, or any other form of shenanigans will be neither condoned or tolerated in any other part of the 50 states of the United States of American, nor anywhere upon the North American Continent."

It is anticipated that two other such zones may be established sometime in the future. One would be located at an as yet unidentified location somewhere in mid-central Mexico and the other in northern Canada, near the Arctic Circle.

*fauxnewsservice

[Bozita]

7. Yep, Yucca Mountain in Nevada is also being considered

Glow-in-the-dark protestors.

[Longhorn]

8. Cool thing just happened!

As I was reading the story, an email came in to remind me to renew my ACLU membership! So I did, in honor of the Ranks! :toast:

[Roon]

9. We never had incidents like this when Clinton was president n/t

[Mike Niendorff]

25. with all due respect: yes, we did.

WTO protests.
Seattle.
1999.

Just one glaring example.


MDN

[SkipNewarkDE]

10. Bush at Kutztown University

A friend of mine was invited to see Bush speak at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, during a campaign stop last week. She was called by someone "vetting" the people in attendence, and was asked if she was a registered Republican. Taken aback, she responded "no." She was not permitted to attend the speech.

Oh for the days when Clinton would actively engage protesters and detractors, letting them speak, and graciously responding to them.

[SoCalDem]

13. after the primary.just change your registration to R..then change back

AFTER the general election...rinse & repeat..


then you can get invited to attend.. wear a shirt OVER the Kerry tee-shirt, and once inside, just unbutton the outer shirt..

Make a scene..hopefully bring friends with you who do the same..

gotta be subversive..

[primavera]

11. Shades of the anti-inaugural protest

This reminds me of attending the anti-inaugural march in DC in January 2000. ANSWER had applied for and received a proper legal permit authorizing us to march along a specific route from Dupont Circle to a specific site along Pennsylvania Avenue. As we were proceeding along our authorized route, our progress kept being impeded by cordons of police and national guard units who had blocked off the streets of that route. As I was towards the front of the crowd, I could see that the protest organizers and participants kept trying to communicate with the officers, inquiring whether there was a problem, showing the officers their permits, asking whether they could proceed, etc., but none of the officers would answer any questions, they just stood there wordlessly, even when asked simply to identify themselves. Yet when, receiving no response, some protestors attempted to cross the street once the light turned green, they were instantly and brutally clubbed to the ground with billy-clubs. No provocation, no warning, no verbal instructions that they should not cross the street, just immediate violence. I cannot tell you how outraged I am that, despite the thousands of witnesses, none of the officers were ever arrested for brutality. I've always believed there was a hell of a basis for a law suit there and it just infuriates me that we let them get away with that.

[colonel odis]

12. so don't tip your hand before you get inside

dress like a freeper (ewwwww), eat boogers like they do, smile like you're a double from stepford wives, and make it inside. then start heckling the little shit from the crowd. he'll blow a gasket.

when you call conservative talk shows, tell them you're a conservative republican, then start picking apart bush's policies. make him appear out of touch with traditional republican philosophy.

write a letter to the editor saying you've voted republican all your life but you just can't stomach george w. bush anymore.

put a "conservatives for kerry" sticker on your car and sign in your yard.

it's the "democrats for reagan" strategy. when it appears that mainstream republicans are fleeing him, he'll look even more pathetic. and more than likely, real mainstream republicans will flee him.

i don't want to dress up or act like a freeper. but it's for the greater good and only until november.

[JPZenger]

15. Woman With Kerry Shirt Ordered to Leave Bush Speech

When Bush spoke at Kutztown University in Kutztown PA last week, almost all of the tickets were distributed through the county republican committees. However, a woman obtained a ticket through the University. When she unbuttoned her outer shirt and showed a Kerry T-shirt, she was ordered to leave the speech.

I would have loved to have been that person and dared them to forcibly remove me - while I was sitting quietly doing nothing wrong. (Instead, she left.)

On the public streets of Kutztown, protestors were told they were not allowed to hold signs over their heads.

War = Peace
Ignorance = Strength

-----
P.S. - John Stewart was right on target last night. He played the six times in one speech that Bush said "we are safer". He then said that it boils down to this - Bush is saying we are safer, because he keeps repeating that we are. He then noted that more police will be guarding the Republican Convention than there are soldiers hunting down Al Queda in Afghanistan.

[anon5858]

18. Stewart is right on

Bushie couldn't resist going to Iraq.

[bobbyboucher]

14. They should have worn these shirts,

http://www.8643.biz/

Do you think the morans would notice?


(shameless plug, it's my buddies sight, coming soon, bumper stickers)

[The_Casual_Observer]

16. Well it's a lot better than Nazi Germany!

In Nazi Germany it wouldn't have just ended in an arrest. They would have sent them to a death camp or shot them. That would never happen here, we have our freedoms. :eyes:

[primavera]

19. Give them time

“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear." - President Harry Truman

[MountainLaurel]

22. Speaking of Nazi Germany

Let us not forget . . .

Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country. Hermann Goering

[anon5858]

17. Like "Girls Gone Wild," only...

JBT going nuts.

[struggle4progress]

20. WTF! When I click the link, Drudge comes up! eom

but here are some related links from the same paper:

Bush is expected to arrive at the West Virginia Air National Guard base around 10:30 a.m. Sunday, with a speaking engagement at the Statehouse set for 1 p.m. Those who might get the best view of the nation’s 43rd chief executive, though, might be at a local church service.
http://wvgazette.com/section/News/2004070243

In his second Fourth of July visit to West Virginia in three years, President Bush called on Americans to “do our duty” and support wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as part of the larger war against terrorism.
http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/2004070423

Nicole Rank, who was working for FEMA in West Virginia, and her husband, Jeff, were removed from the Capitol grounds in handcuffs shortly before Bush’s speech. The pair wore T-shirts with the message “Love America, Hate Bush.”
http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/2004070734

WHEN President Bush made his speech Sunday at the state Capitol, he proclaimed: “On this Fourth of July, we confirm our love of freedom, the freedom for people to speak their minds, the freedom for people to worship as they so choose. Free thought, free expression, that’s what we believe.”
But a Texas couple who tried to speak their minds were hauled away in handcuffs.
http://www.wvgazette.com/section/Editorials/2004070819

West Virginia taxpayers will pay about $53,000 for various services and materials related to the visit President Bush made to the state Capitol on the Fourth of July.
http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/Today/2004071331

<edit:> The Google link to the story now also redirects to Drudge. I think there's a loose wingnut somewhere ...

[arlib]

21. I tried...

...to do a search from the paper's home page and it looks like the article has vanished?!?!? WTF????

[arlib]

23. OK....

...the link is working again.

[Maeve]

24. It wasn't just you

Same thing happened when I tried--it started to go one place and ended at drudge.com. Glad it's back! Very Orwellian...

[BonjourUSA]

26. Does the crime of lese-majesty exist in America ?

Excuse me, just a little revenge. So many times I heard the Americans to say "We live in the greatest democracy of the world" ;)