Express Yourself
And when the Administration isn't spying on folks, see Trust Me, it's busy quelling dissent.
The Largest Minority reports, in Feds Pay Up for Arresting Couple with Anti-Bush Shirts:
Nicole and Jeffery Rank were arrested and removed for wearing anti-Bush t-shirts at a 2004 rally at the state Capitol of West Virginia, where Bush gave a speech. The ACLU announced the couple had settled their lawsuit against the federal government for $80,000 after a judge dismissed the trumped up trespassing charges against them.Crooks & Liars (which also has a video of a Hardball interview of the Ranks), in Wrongly Arrested Bush Protesters Talk About Their $80K Government Settlement On Hardball, explains:* * * *A presidential advance manual obtained in the Rank case has shown that dissenters are actively sought out and silenced during the president’s public appearances. “As a last resort, security should remove the demonstrators from the event,” the manual says.
On July 4th, 2004, Jeffery and Nicole Rank attended an public Independence Day event in Charleston, WV where President Bush was to speak. Despite the fact that the event was open to the public and was held on public land, the Ranks were arrested for wearing anti-Bush t-shirts.The facts: A public event on the 4th of July. A day of celebrating our "freedoms." An appearance by the President. No words, just an anti-Bush T-shirt. Expulsion and arrest. Freedom lives -- except our freedom to express our feelings towards the President.
See also, Exclusive Interview With ACLU Lawyer In Bush Rally Free Speech Case.
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2 comments:
Their T-shirts were an implicit threat of violence against the President of the United States and any reasonable person would see it that way. I am very disappointed the state or federal government did not pursue criminal charges against these folks. I am sure that a jury of their peers would have found them guilty in no time at all. Paying them one red cent, let alone $80K, is a monstrous perversion of justice.
Their T-shirts were an implicit threat of violence against the President of the United States and any reasonable person would see it that way. I am very disappointed the state or federal government did not pursue criminal charges against these folks. I am sure that a jury of their peers would have found them guilty in no time at all. Paying them one red cent, let alone $80K, is a monstrous perversion of justice.
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