I don't believe in keeping people out to suppress dissent, but this is a spectacularly bad example, if you're expecting us to feel sorry for this guy.

If he had been arrested for a peaceful protest, that would be one thing. But he was involved in a criminal action that damaged U.S. military property. Of course we're not going to let him in! And we shouldn't let in people who burn houses as an environmental protest, or people who tear up research laboratories as an animal rights protest.

Too many people have swallowed the BS of property rights. The party that runs the U.S.(and much of the rest of the world) might as well be called the Property party. How else can we get them to change their behavior unless we threaten their property?---and it should not be forgotten that they acquired the property in the first place by stealing it from other people (and killing as many of them as they possibly could). Military property is an especially offensive form of the oppressors killing off anyone who would threaten their ownership of it. (A tautology, to be sure, but imperialism is nothing but a big vicious circle, in any case.)

The BS of property rights? Do you own stuff? Do you not expect the government to prevent people from taking or damaging your property, regardless of their professed reasons? I don't suppose you're writing that post naked, outdoors, from a borrowed computer at a commune. I think most people would agree with me that protecting property from theft or wanton destruction is among the essential functions of any government.

That house, that laboratory, that navy plane, all belong to someone, whether it's a developer or a university or shareholders or taxpayers. You wanna destroy stuff to make a statement? Knock yourself out. But the rest of us will expect our goverment to lock you up, or turn you back at the border, so we don't have to pay for your politics with our hard-earned money.

Moran was acquitted. This is an example of people being a "Good American", just like the "Good Germans" half a century ago. And this is not by accident. The property class will empower its bureaucrats to enforce its policy. These government workers probably think they did something to help America. They don't know they work for an empire now. They don't even know they are being asked to prop up a rapidly declining empire.
Hoa binh

I would rather see Bush and his administration denied entry into the United States. It just another form of censoring.

He should give the talk on YouTube.

jgr4, Mr. Moran was acquitted. This means that he was not "involved in a criminal action" as you claim. Or do you not understand what "acquitted" means?

The relatively enlightened Irish court recognized that the US military was the party committing the greater crime - or do you believe that the US invasion and occupation of Iraq is somehow "legal," just because the US courts refuse to hear any arguments to the contrary? In that context, the normally criminal act of damaging a US military jet becomes completely legal. Hence his acquittal.

Mr. Moran's actions, which as a United Statesian I wholeheartedly applaud, were akin to punching a guy in the face who is in the act of murdering somebody. You would apparently prefer to ignore the murder and concentrate on the punch.

jgi4...I respectfully disagree.

In the U.S. the rights of capital are now so rigged that the rights of capital far exceeds the rights of human need.

This shift in power away from basic human rights like food, shelter, education and healthcare, now justifies such destruction of military property, symbolic in almost all cases, but sending a message to the American people to wake up.

The rights of capital has made the U.S. a war mongering nation, waging war in the interests of Wall Street, the banking industry, multinational corporations, and the defense industry, all back-up by U.S. military force.

God bless all non-violent peace activists, we need a thousand more of them to liberate America from the iron grip of ruthless and militant capitalism.

Bt the way, this war on terrorism is really about the belligerent rights of capital and American Empire.

jgjr4: read the article. The Irish gentleman was acquitted. It's people like you that make me hate Americans.

"Moran had, in fact, participated in an action five years ago in Ireland where protesters had entered Shannon Airport in Ireland and damaged a U.S. Navy jet. (www.warontrial.net.) Moran and four others were charged with causing criminal damage to the aircraft, but they were acquitted of the charge."

Wasn't this the incident where protesters merely spray-painted objectionable symbols on the U.S. Navy Jet? We certainly shouldn't be damaging the property of others, something which occurs regularly around the globe - but he is not someone who should be on some government "$hit-list", especially if he was acquitted!

"America is a free and open society."

LOL.

You can sign a petition to join with citizens of Poland and the Czech Republic as they protest the siting of US missiles in their countries at www.prague-declaration.org.

If Mr. Moran is working to get this installation stopped, he is on the side of peace.

Wasn't this the incident where protesters merely spray-painted objectionable symbols on the U.S. Navy Jet?
_______________________________________

Do you have any idea how labor-intensive it is to remove graffiti from a jet?

But seriously, folk, I wonder how "objectionable" those symbols were, considering that the military cherishes charming slogans like "Death from Above". And then there's the heartwarming custom of painting bombs and other ordnance with brutal, hostile slogans and best wishes for utter destruction-- Israeli children "decorated" bombs destined to be dropped on Lebanon. I guess it's considered good, clean family fun, like dyeing Easter eggs.

While blog-surfing last night, I happened across a moving bit of history: John Adams defended the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre. Maybe that was in the recent cable TV Adams series-- I don't have cable, didn't see it. But it was sweet to be reminded that the Founders, for all of their limitations and imperfections, actually believed in principle.

Whereas the contemporary Amerikan political elite only believes in principal-- the thing upon which one earns interest.

The visionary era in which America was founded has dwindled to a petty, mean-spirited, utterly ignoble self-centeredness, in which small-minded citizens readily support repressive acts like forbidding an invited anti-war activist from entering the country-- because, after all, he once defaced property.

And some lame foreign court let him off the hook, even though everybody knew he did it!

Now you kids get the hell off my lawn!

PS: I was pleasantly surprised to find that enlightened, progressive law exists somewhere; the Irish law recognizing the greater good achieved by respecting valid dissent and protest-- even if it results in the Destruction of Property-- is the kind of legislating I once hoped our own political elite would adopt.

"I think that most people would agree...that protecting property from theft or destruction ...essential functions of any government." Yeah, right. Tell that to the native Americans, the Palestinians, anyone who has been victimized by eminent domain, and the overburdened U.S. taxpayer funding a military larger than all the others on Earth combined. And their grandchildren's children who will still be paying for the right to acquire and secure more property.
I think that personal property rights is a different issue, and, of course, no one has a right to steal or destroy someone else's.

The issue here isn't the right of people to own property. jgr4 should indeed recognize that Mr. Moran was acquitted of the crime. The issue of whether U.S. Military property located in another country has an absolute right of protection is debatable not given, but the real issue here is whether an innocent (Isn't one of the primary concepts of the American justice system "innocent until proven guilty" - apparently not in the mind of jgr4 or a large portion of the U.S. population or the current government of the U.S. including both ruling parties in the current "one" party system), man - who pretty obviously posed no danger to property in the U.S.- be allowed to enter this country to speak in an educational role. The action to disallow him entry is reactionary, unconstitutional, and completely against every thing that America claims to stand for.

As a matter of fact, pretty much since the beginning of the colonialists "occupation" of this continent, the founders of this "government" have been, in practice, opposed to what, in theory, the American project has been based on. Violation of common property law, human rights, civil rights and virtually every one of those "inalienable" rights spoken of in our constitution have been violated by those in power. This is why our country is currently in decline on every front and on the brink of an economic disaster of inconceivable proportion.

The article simply illustrates one of the symptoms of our current fascist system and one of the reasons we should all be preparing ourselves for life beyond the empire.

How much does the US respect protecting the property of Iraqis or Afghans? Yeah, right.