In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
George Bush's America
Keeping dissent invisible
Oct. 16, 2003 | PHILADELPHIA -- When Bill Neel learned that President George W. Bush was making a Labor Day campaign visit to Pittsburgh last year to support local congressional candidates, the retired Pittsburgh steelworker decided that he would be on hand to protest the president's economic policies. Neel and his sister made a hand-lettered sign reading "The Bushes must love the poor -- they've made so many of us," and headed for a road where the motorcade would pass on the way from the airport to a Carpenters' Union training center.
Neel never got to display his sign for President Bush to see, though. As he stood among milling groups of Bush supporters, he was approached by a local police detective, who told him and his sister that because they were protesting, they had to move to a "free-speech area," on orders of the U.S. Secret Service.
"He pointed out a relatively remote baseball diamond that was enclosed in a chain-link fence," Neel recalled in an interview with Salon. "I could see these people behind the fence, with their faces up against it, and their hands on the wire." (The ACLU posted photos of the demonstrators and supporters at that event on its Web site.) "It looked more like a concentration camp than a free-speech area to me, so I said, 'I'm not going in there. I thought the whole country was a free-speech area.'" The detective asked Neel, 66, to go to the area six or eight times, and when he politely refused, he handcuffed and arrested the retired steelworker on a charge of disorderly conduct. (It's a Salon article, so you'll have to watch on ad if you want to read the whole piece).
Let's be clear here, the Secret Service does not put supporters behind chain linked fences, thus this is not a security concern. Assassins sent to kill Bush would not be holding posters that say "we think Bush sleeps with the whores of Babylon;" they would probably be holding something that would not draw attention. So either the Secret Service is incompetent (which I do not believe they are); or they are acting under political pressure.
When Clinton was President and a protestor yelled out something against him he said "you're intitled to you opinion." In Bush's America that would get you arrested. I am not exaggerating.
This isn't new security because of 9/11. Just check out this article from June, 2001: Protesters kept at a distance; three arrested
TAMPA -- People who parked in the assigned lots and walked to Legends Field to see President Bush probably didn't see many protest signs.
That's because the 150 or so protesters were kept in a cordoned-off "First Amendment zone" about a half-mile away, at the corner of Dale Mabry Highway and Tampa Bay Boulevard.
...
Janis Marie Lentz, 55, of New Port Richey, Mauricio Rosas, 37, of Tampa, and Sonja Haught, 59, of Clearwater, were each charged with trespassing after warning, police said. Haught also was charged with disorderly conduct because police say she tried to resist arrest.
Walter Sorenson, 81, of New Port Richey was knocked down after police shoved one of the arrested women, he said. He suffered a cut on his head.
Sorenson said he was carrying an anti-Bush sign too, but put it in his pocket when told to.
"I asked them (security) how come everyone else could wave Bush signs and we couldn't have our signs," Sorenson said. "They said, "You don't make the rules. We make the rules.'
Bush does not want to live in a democracy, at least not while he is in charge. Dissent, Discussion, Debate, all to him are annoyances that he, as king, does not need to be exposed too. He does not realize these are the foundations of a very society.
Bush does not read papers, does not see the protestors, considers debate as dissent and demands an almost sycophantic loyalty. Can this man lead or just bark orders?
- rob 3:44 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
TCS Now offers a News Reader Feed
Subscribe to the TCS Feed
Having trouble with some of the poor English
on this site?
Imagine what it looks like when translated by a machine:
This is a "team" blog. We are a bunch of
Americans, whose rising distress
in our leader's decisions brought us together to make this site.
As Bush said, he's a "uniter." Many of us have never even met.
That's the internet for you.
Buy our cool stuff.
And tell everyone what you feel.
We have a little Store
you can visit.
Our store's selection of items is constantly growing. Come
see what we have.
We're also Amazon Associates, so if you want to buy something from Amazon, please search for it below, and we will get a few bucks from the sale.
Static Sky
Tin Foil Caps
The Free Speech Zone
The office of the independent blogger
Buzzflash
Tom The Dancing Bug
VerifiedVoting.org
Get Your War
On
This Modern World
Eschaton / Atrios
Daily Kos
meowpurrmeow
Contribute to America's Future
It is now more important then ever.
Donate to the Democractic Congressional Campaign Committee
Donate to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
Some More Site Mottos
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the
president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is
not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the
American people."
- Teddy Roosevelt
"Government has a final responsibility for the well-being of
its citizenship. If private cooperative endeavor fails to provide work
for willing hands and relief for the unfortunate, those suffering
hardship from no fault of their own have a right to call upon the
Government for aid; and a government worthy of its name must make
fitting response."
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions, but laws must and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."
- Thomas Jefferson
"The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home."
"All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain
degree."
- James Madison
"I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, in human liberty as the source of national action, in the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas. It is, I believe, the faith in our fellow citizens as individuals and as people that lies at the heart of the liberal faith. For liberalism is not so much a party creed or set of fixed platform promises as it is an attitude of mind and heart, a faith in man's ability through the experiences of his reason and judgment to increase for himself and his fellow men the amount of justice and freedom and brotherhood which all human life deserves."
- John F. Kennedy
"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are [a] few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
more coming...
