Protesters Interrupt Bush Holiday Speech

Thomas Jefferson said:

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

Today's version:

"The shub of tyranny must be uprooted by mass revolt and heckling."

Honestly, though - why hasn't Bush been arrested? All of that law enforcement and Secret Service folk can just nab and jail him. Why doesn't security secure the tyrant?

This is a nation of laws and the founding fathers fought to oppose kings? Oh, rich irony!

It pisses me off that the author puts quotation marks around the words "war criminal" as if it's just a peculiar term made up by the protesters. Bush is a war criminal. The rest of the world knows it and it's way past time that the U.S. media starts telling the American people the truth!

satr9prodxns July 6th, 2008 11:05 am

big rock + bush's face = peace

big rock + bush's face = violence to achieve peace. Careful... you are becoming what you oppose.

big rock + bush's face = peace

Impeachemnow, Goose2 must be correct in claiming that no one has been arrested or detained. After all I don't remember reading or hearing about any arrests or detentions in the MSM. I'm sure FOX NEWS, CNN, the NYT and many other media outlets would have been reporting and informing us day and night if this were true. (LOL)

Goose2 said: "For all the things said here has one person been arrested or detained or questioned? No."
How would you know who has or hasn't been arrested? The fact is under Bush we have a more secretive government than ever before in the history of this government. They can arrest and detain people under powers given to them by a Congress that has sold out to the highest bidders. They can now arrest and detain people indefinitely without charging them; what planet do you live on? Don't forget that the USA has more of its population in prison than any other country in the world. If you think none of them are political prisoners you are not facing reality. Of course if you think that all dissenters are unpatriotic you probably think they should be arrested. We are dealing with people who had no qualms about invading and occupying a sovereign nation based on lies. If we have nothing to be concerned about then why are our taxpayer dollars going towards spying on Raging Grannies, Quakers and who knows who else? We are all in collusion as long as these war criminals and war racketeers face no consequences for their actions.

Patrick Henry said it all,"Give me liberty or give me Death". I believe the time is coming that we have to do exactly that, die for our freedom. I applaud the protesters, we need more of them and at every politican's meeting site, all of them to one degree or another have helped put this country in a terrible mess. Justice is crying out to be heard.

Here is some more free speech just released yesterday.

Get it while you still can.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=truth%20rising&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&r...

Jefferson was a liberal revolutionary, if he were around today Bush would have him jailed as a domestic terrorist and deny him his habeus corpus.

He is guilty of many of the same crimes against the American people as the King of England was which prompted the writing of the Declaration of Independence.

He must think we're total idiots.

willybill
No offence, but my point is obvious. You have "freedom of speech" within certain boundaries. Could be you just did not utter the "trigger" words..who knows. As a thirties white male, YOU may not be targeted as much as others outside that category.
Sorry willybill but I have to agree with chameleon2. Freedom of speech is alive and well. This site would not be in existence if it were any other way. I think what chameleon2 is trying to point out: there is responsibility with this freedom.
You have the right to announce on a busy Manhattan street "I have fissionable material!"(trigger word)... you also have to face the consequences of your actions.

What would Jefferson say about Bushes delusional statement that prompted a standing ovation?

"We honor Jefferson's legacy by aiding the rise of liberty in lands that do not know the blessings of freedom," Bush said. "And on this Fourth of July we pay tribute to the brave men and women who wear the uniform of the United States of America," prompting a standing ovation from the assembled crowd.

I would have to imagine if might sound something like this...

"Freedom and democracy are not divine gifts.

They are earned and maintained by a vigilant,mindful ,and mature citizenry through sustained struggle,and once lost they are not easily regained.

Imperial Ambition is their almost certain undoing."

Thomas Jefferson

I believe Mr. Jefferson would be proud of the men and women in this day and age that continue the "struggle".

I know I am.

"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of" dependence on OIL? Or for credit cards, or morgages, or pensions that are not honored, or bad air, or bad water, or people sent to fight illegal wars?

With our fleet currently guarding the Persian Gulf waterway we now control 90% of the worlds oil resources (or think we do). Think about that!

Juliann, If you actually had the experiences and observations you claim, you wouldn't be quoting Wayne Dyer to support them. Unless you are referring to some other lesser known Wayne Dyer than the balding, snake oil selling dip shit who buys his way onto late night public broadcast programming to hawk DVD's on how to keep a smile on your face even after your brain has been marinated in woowoo.

( Juliann writes: This isn't the first time reading CD postings that I've thought of something Wayne Dyer said a few years ago … that if all the wealth in the world was divided equally, within two years of that happening - the originally poor people would be poor again - and the originally well to do people would be well to do again. I absolutely believe that.") ."

Since Dyer's example was actually pulled out of his butt, and nothing remotely like that has ever been tried in recorded human history, and since your first person experiences with the "welfare system" sound as bogus as the statistics you pulled out of your butt, I find no opportunity to agree with your reasoning. However, I do agree with that part of your conclusion where you acknowledge your need to get a life. Perhaps you'll be so fortunate as to find one that permits you to replace Dire BS with truthful examples, and one that affords you access to facts and figures that do not originate in your fundament.

For me free speech in this country ended in Dec. of 1973. And I have a scar on the back of my head to prove it. It was put there by a club weilding police officer. What did I do to deserve this? I was exercising my my constitutional right of "free speech" at an Impeach Nixon Demonstration.

Williameon, right on. The war criminals use hundreds of billions of dollars of our tax money for their war profiteering, but none to help make this a better country.

I want to thank the woman in the picture and other demonstrators who spoke up while the Chimp spoke. I agree that if men escorting her away from the lyin' king George's earshot is "freedom of speech," it's "freedom of speech" in name only.

chameleon2 July 4th, 2008 11:41 pm ...No offence, but my point is obvious. You have "freedom of speech" within certain boundaries. Could be you just did not utter the "trigger" words..who knows. As a thirties white male, YOU may not be targeted as much as others outside that category.

If you believe you still have the freedoms you are supposedly guaranteed by the Constitution, just go on your merry way...I am not here to persuade you, but just to possibly create an awareness.

They couldn't have picked a more inept person to speak to new citizen's if they had tried! The man knows literally nothing about this country or it's laws! He has spent the last 7 1/2 years making up his own laws, Constitution and morals as he went! They might have been better served to asked Daffy Duck to get up there and make a speech to new citizen's. He probably knows more about it than Bush does. It only leaves one to wonder how far in the muck this country is going to sink before people start seeing what's wrong with Bush and Company! And have the morals to reject it!

What a wonderful spectacle - the protesters seem to be incredibly brave. I applaud them.

Make more Babies so we can Blow them up!

The Shrub spews more Garbage!
The BORED Again
Stink Tanks and
FAUXTIANS need more clones.
To pay for and fight their phony WAR.
The Stupider The Better!

Is this the best we can do?
It is King George's

The Shrub's
Fare Well tour.
Desecrating The Republic
I wish it was that easy!
McPain
The Hanoi Candidate
Is selling a 100 more Years!
How Draconian?
Easy for him to say
from
6 feet under.

Support the Troops
STOP Feeding them into a Meat Grinder
Bring them Home.
Give them an education and a job instead.

The Corpirates and Fauxtians
Say they care a lot about Fetuses and telling
Everyone else what to do with their bodies.
But, once your born
They want nothing to do with you!
Their compassion ends.
Life is sacred, Blah, Blah, Blah!
No health care
No jobs
No housing
No Sex Education
No college
No arts
No food
But,
They've Got WAR!
ENDLESS WAR!

A WAR on this and a new WAR on that.
Forget about fixing anything!
That would actually do something and be too easy.

It is perfectly Kosher to drop
The Mother of all Bombs
On a Pregnant Iraqi Women
Talk about Planned Parenthood!
In their Bushzarro World!

Everything they say is a lie.
Everything they do is harmful for Children, Animals and other living things.
They are Evil.

Another 200 Billion for
Dead Eye and Bush's War Machine.
None for you!
Another 500 billion to bail out The Banks
None for you!
100's of Billion to bail out Merrill Lynch and The Schlock Market!
None for you!
Get the Message?

A Saudi Sheik owns Citi Bank.

Bailout for Billionaires!

Does anyone else see the irony in what Bush said about Jefferson rather celebrating Independence Day than his own birthday?

Bush said: "To me it's pretty simple, the Fourth of July weekend is my birthday weekend."

This man and his cabal, or should I say - this cabal and their current figurehead, want to destroy this country! They relish what they have accomplished….

After all, as this war criminal has said; "the constitution is only a piece of paper."

WAKE UP AMERICAN!

I heard the Chimp speaking on the radio today, and he sounded angry. Poor spoiled AWOL drunken frat-party boy lyin' king George. He doesn't like it when people tell him the truth. He wants to pretend he's a great America because his birthday falls on the 4th of July weekend this year. Hopefully he won't get too drunk and press the button and have Iran nuked for his birthday present.

"Think you have freedom of speech?..Next time you are on a plane, see how freely you can speak!"

Not sure I get your point. I'm probably flying three four times year but i never felt could not speak freely. Actually on my last two flights i got selected for "secondary screening", probably cuz i was a white male in his 30s so there was no danger of being politically incorrect.

while being wanded i was talking to the TSA dude and told him how i think his dog and pony show is not really helping with "security". He didn't seem to mind at all. It was probably one of the TSA guys that actually finished high school.

You know, if we had enough protesters at Bush's speech, then we could have dragged Bush away rather than witnessing the secret service drag the protesters away. Problem solved. We wouldn't need the bullshit of the Democrats, Obama, the election treadmill, etc.

All we've got to do is get enough people together and go and tar-and-feather the varmits.

Goose2, several people who have been arrested for wearing the "wrong" tee-shirt or asking the "wrong" question would dissagree with you about the freedoms you speak of.

Many a lobbyist will tell you, off the record, that the most important free speech, the right to speak to your representatives in government, is severely restricted. Why? To give preference for the paid speech of the lobbyists, who are acting as employees or agents of corporations (which have no Constitutional rights whatsoever).

No amnesty.

Pursue the Bush administration beyond January 20 until they are brought to justice.

FREE AMERICA

Direct Democracy

"We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,
that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

That to secure these rights,
governments are instituted among men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends,
it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it,
and to institute new government,
laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form,
as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.
Prudence, indeed,
will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes;
and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer,
while evils are sufferable,
than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations,
pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism,
it is their right,
it is their duty,
to throw off such government,
and to provide new guards for their future security."

That faint humming sound you hear in the background of Bush's speech is the sound of the Founding Fathers spinning in their graves.....

Actually, today marks the anniversay of Jefferson declared that "all Rich White Males are created equal"...then went home and beat his wife, his chinese and white indentured servants, then raped his black misstress and her daughter.

Not exactly something that I would be proud of.

There is freedom of speech in America.

Unless it's A. against the system, and B., Someone will hear it.

Then you are put in a cage.

And or 'detained'; see CD article today re. unembedding journalists (unless they toe the party line-toe on a jack-boot)

Independence Day has ceased to exit! Today we lived the scripted version of an Independence Day, on que, on schedule, with sound effects and light show. Yeppers, we also had the handful of scripted protesters (I know they are real) to give us the illusion that we are free, sure folks, believe what you want, but at least be honest with yourselves.

Hooray for the protesters who would not allow this murderous cheater to go unchallenged! But which way forward? If Kerry or Gore had been elected, or if Obama or Nader or Paul were to become the next president, do you really think that ther would be any lasting change for the better?

The forces of capitalist economy guarantee an endless threat and an occasional victory (fair or not...) by the most ugly of imperialists. Reactionaries aren't as stupid as CDers often suggest, because in a hostile world of wannabe imperialist nations, it really is eat or be eaten. This is why I constantly hammer on the need to build the Leninist party that can lead us to global proletarian socialism. There is no way out within the nationalist, capitalist paradigm!

Think you have freedom of speech?..Next time you are on a plane, see how freely you can speak!

Monticello, Va. Sounds a little like Montibello, Quebec, last August, when the "leaders" of the three North American govts, U.S., Mexico, and Canada, met to push the SPP, Security and Prosperity (for the rich) Protocol along.

They should try Monti-python, instead.

Duh?! I know, dumb joke, but this article also isn't inspirational! It really doesn't "move" me at all, unless you consider looking and reaching for the nearest spit... (bucket) 'movement'. You'd be technically right, but some people still wouldn't consider this particularly "moving". Instead, they'd say, 'DUH?! Idiot!'. And they'd be technically right, but I'm also not "moved"; being [stuck], ya know, duh.

Our world is going up in ... hell, and what do and can we do to oppose? Not much seems to be the answer, as unfitting as it is. And now I'm "moved", but how do we [move] masses of people to truly protest against, oppose EVIL? Duh, I'm dumbfounded, for nothing seems to work. Americans bitch, kick, cry, shout, and all that whining bs for the sake of the personal privilege or right to bear arms, but for what? SELFISH purpose is for what! They don't care about the country, Constitution, and so on; only caring about themselves. Well, you don't need a gun in that case. I don't, and if I don't, then ....

I am moved, but it's the sort motion that would [rock] this whole planet to frightening scale if I had my way; not enough to cause real damage, but some real and natural 'shock and awe', yes. Well, we also can't do that, so we're stuck with ... BS.

We have a bunch of elites with their heads stuck up their asses, "stoned" off of their internal gases, dictating to and against us, and we can do nothing? Sure seems that way.

I'm moved, ... to nausea.

It evidently is no simple matter trying to defeat the rich elites that or who really rule our govt; very difficult. Their web is wide, and when they have to establish new "threads", they do, and have the material, financial clout to be able to buy most politicians; many anyway.

I'm moved, in various directions, and then dumbfounded still, motionless. Voters have allowed a state to develop to a stage of such corruption that it's difficult to imagine how this could be reversed.

Burning down the Congress would be great, we could bring fresh road kill and vegies and have a great barbeque; but the Congress no longer is made of wood, if it ever was. Some 'loyalists' from the Maritimes of Canada burned down the Congress, or maybe it was the White House (also a good location for some pan-fried haddock, say), but I don't know what the building was constructed of at that time.

Wood is a convenient material for construction of such buildings though. I won't complain, if they're of mostly wood (and a lot of paper would also be helpful). :)

chameleon2 July 4th, 2008 5:43 pm.....And...

disappointing in Taser case
October 4th, 2007
On Sept. 17, 2007, during a forum with John Kerry at the University of Florida at Gainesville, Fla., a student was forcibly restrained, Tasered, arrested and removed from the auditorium. Shortly after the incident, at least half a dozen videos shot by witnesses in the audience began to circulate on YouTube.

This incident occurred when Andrew Meyer asked John Kerry a question regarding the outcome of the 2004 presidential elections. For one reason or another, the police labeled him as hostile and an order was given to remove him from the hall.

In the context of the Tasing, what the student did to provoke the officers is irrelevant. The only situation that should have warranted the police's response would have been if the student had waved a gun while he spoke. In the case of Meyer, he was carrying sunglasses and a book.

It is distressing that a colleague and fellow student at an American institution of higher learning was subject to such unjustified brutality by law enforcement officers simply for asking a question.

Supposing that the actions of the Florida police were within state law regarding the use of force and the use of Tasers, it is questionable that these policies were necessary in this circumstance. We are not safer as a nation because a student asking a provocative question at a university can be wrestled to the ground and shocked with a Taser.

I have heard no national outcry. The relevance of the event was downplayed to an intolerable level in the media. This topic is more than relevant to us as college students, and it is not an isolated event. At UCLA last year, a student was handcuffed because he could not produce identification in a computer lab. He was then Tasered repeatedly after the cuffs were in place. We cannot allow this to continue.

The issues here are media censorship and government manipulation of national interests. We, as products of the system that supports these matters, must not let ourselves become an apathetic and ignorant people. It is our duty as a nation to work toward establishing a more coherent and stable society. Our concerns should be focused on the way Americans treat Americans. We should view our government as a tool that we control. Let us not be so desensitized to the suffering of our own people to the point that the blatant violation of a student's right to ask a question is an event that we can tolerate and accept.

Forget that this is an issue of free speech. Forget that this is an issue of police brutality. Remember that the lack of an outcry against this injustice will be used to mark this sort of event as a precedent for times to come. Issues of this magnitude cannot be permitted to pique our concern only in the form of a short-lived YouTube phenomenon.

It is our duty as students to continue to question the actions of others so that the problems of today may be replaced by solutions for tomorrow. It has been my experience that whenever something is unclear at any given moment, a question of clarification is encouraged, if not mandated. It is the duty of students across America to pay attention when these events take place and to call on our representatives in government to fight for law enforcement policies that actually keep our students safe. The responsibility does not end when we are no longer enrolled in classes. As learning and adapting human beings we are forever students wherever we are. It is disrespectful to our future as a nation to allow this incident to pass us by unscathed.

David Korman is a sophomore cinema and photography major. E-mail him at dkorman1@ithaca.edu.

chameleon2 July 4th, 2008 5:43 pm ..These following folks won the case, but look what they had to go through........

News Story

Federal lawsuit follows anti-Bush T-shirt arrests

By The Associated Press
09.15.04
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A couple arrested for wearing anti-Bush T-shirts to the president's July 4 appearance at the West Virginia Capitol filed a federal lawsuit yesterday alleging their First Amendment rights were violated.

Nicole and Jeff Rank were removed from the event in handcuffs after revealing T-shirts with President Bush's name crossed out on the front. Nicole Rank's shirt had the words "Love America, Hate Bush" on the back and Jeff Rank's had "Regime change starts at home" on the back.

Their lawsuit was filed in federal court in Charleston by American Civil Liberties Union attorneys. It names Gregory Jenkins, deputy assistant to the president and director of the White House Office of Presidential Advance, and W. Ralph Basham, director of the U.S. Secret Service, as defendants.

"What is at stake here transcends politics," Jeff Rank said at a news conference at the Capitol. "What is at stake is the right of all Americans — Democrats, Republicans and Independents, all Americans — to peacefully voice their dissent to their government."

He said although he and his wife had never participated in a political protest before, they believed the lawsuit was necessary because, "unless common citizens like ourselves are willing to stand and fight for their civil liberties, those very liberties our great nation was founded upon, ideals of freedom that keep us strong today, will wither and erode until they are gone forever."

The couple wants a judge to declare unconstitutional any policy that led to their arrest. They also are seeking unspecified monetary damages for emotional harm they suffered.

Spokesmen for the Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Justice, to whom a White House spokesman directed questions, refused to comment. Both said their agencies did not comment on ongoing litigation.

Trespassing charges filed against the couple by Charleston police officers after they were removed from the event were later dismissed because a municipal judge determined city trespassing ordinances do not apply to Statehouse grounds. City Council and Mayor Danny Jones have publicly apologized to the Ranks.

Jones, a Republican, has said the police officers who arrested the Ranks were told to do so by Secret Service agents.

Charles Bopp, a spokesman for the Secret Service, had previously said his agency did not direct the arrests.

The ACLU filed a federal lawsuit last September against the Secret Service, seeking an injunction against the Bush administration for segregating protesters at his public appearances. The Secret Service agreed to stop the practice.

Bush's appearance in West Virginia was an official visit and not a campaign event.

The lawsuit said the Ranks obtained free tickets to the July 4 event. Information they received with the tickets specified items they were not allowed to bring, such as coolers and lawn chairs, but did not say anything about clothing. Nicole Rank received an e-mail at work that said, "there is no specified dress code."

Jeff Rank said he and his wife wore the T-shirts because, "When you see the president speak on TV he is usually shown surrounded by fervent supporters only. While we wanted to hear him out and while we wanted to see him in person, we did not want to be added to the tally of Bush supporters that day."

They were not shouting or heckling, did not lie down in protest and did not resist arrest, Jeff Rank said.

While the Ranks were put in handcuffs, fingerprinted and spent two hours in jail, other people at the event who wore Bush campaign T-shirts and buttons were not bothered, said Andrew Schneider, the executive director of the ACLU in West Virginia.

"Presidents cannot be insulated from dissent," Schneider said.

Although Nicole Rank, 30 and a registered Democrat, initially was dismissed from her job with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, she was rehired after the charges were dropped. She now is on an assignment in Richmond, Va.

The Ranks had been living in Corpus Christi, Texas, and were in West Virginia because of Nicole Rank's FEMA assignment. They have since moved to Charleston. Jeff Rank, 29 and a registered Republican, is a math and science tutor at the University of Charleston

chameleon2 July 4th, 2008 5:43 pm And.............

disappointing in Taser case
October 4th, 2007
On Sept. 17, 2007, during a forum with John Kerry at the University of Florida at Gainesville, Fla., a student was forcibly restrained, Tasered, arrested and removed from the auditorium. Shortly after the incident, at least half a dozen videos shot by witnesses in the audience began to circulate on YouTube.

This incident occurred when Andrew Meyer asked John Kerry a question regarding the outcome of the 2004 presidential elections. For one reason or another, the police labeled him as hostile and an order was given to remove him from the hall.

In the context of the Tasing, what the student did to provoke the officers is irrelevant. The only situation that should have warranted the police's response would have been if the student had waved a gun while he spoke. In the case of Meyer, he was carrying sunglasses and a book.

It is distressing that a colleague and fellow student at an American institution of higher learning was subject to such unjustified brutality by law enforcement officers simply for asking a question.

Supposing that the actions of the Florida police were within state law regarding the use of force and the use of Tasers, it is questionable that these policies were necessary in this circumstance. We are not safer as a nation because a student asking a provocative question at a university can be wrestled to the ground and shocked with a Taser.

I have heard no national outcry. The relevance of the event was downplayed to an intolerable level in the media. This topic is more than relevant to us as college students, and it is not an isolated event. At UCLA last year, a student was handcuffed because he could not produce identification in a computer lab. He was then Tasered repeatedly after the cuffs were in place. We cannot allow this to continue.

The issues here are media censorship and government manipulation of national interests. We, as products of the system that supports these matters, must not let ourselves become an apathetic and ignorant people. It is our duty as a nation to work toward establishing a more coherent and stable society. Our concerns should be focused on the way Americans treat Americans. We should view our government as a tool that we control. Let us not be so desensitized to the suffering of our own people to the point that the blatant violation of a student's right to ask a question is an event that we can tolerate and accept.

Forget that this is an issue of free speech. Forget that this is an issue of police brutality. Remember that the lack of an outcry against this injustice will be used to mark this sort of event as a precedent for times to come. Issues of this magnitude cannot be permitted to pique our concern only in the form of a short-lived YouTube phenomenon.

It is our duty as students to continue to question the actions of others so that the problems of today may be replaced by solutions for tomorrow. It has been my experience that whenever something is unclear at any given moment, a question of clarification is encouraged, if not mandated. It is the duty of students across America to pay attention when these events take place and to call on our representatives in government to fight for law enforcement policies that actually keep our students safe. The responsibility does not end when we are no longer enrolled in classes. As learning and adapting human beings we are forever students wherever we are. It is disrespectful to our future as a nation to allow this incident to pass us by unscathed.

David Korman is a sophomore cinema and photography major. E-mail him at dkorman1@ithaca.edu.

Today in Aptos, California, the Republican part of Santa Cruz County, we had the annual two block parade down Soquel Drive.
One of the last "floats" was a van with Ron Paul and 911 Was An Inside Job stickers all over it. I yelled out a comment affirming the 911 stickers, and nearly immediately, a man looking somewhat older than myself, and a good many inches taller (I'm 5'8" and I'm 54 years old) told me to "Shut Up!" I countered that I wasn't going to shut up, that it was my First Amendment Constitutional Right of Free Speech to say what I had said. He called me an idiot, and then his wife chirped in something about my not having any relatives who died on 911. I yelled back that buildings like the Twin Towers don't just fall down like that, but they were blown up from the inside. The both yelled out again that I was an idiot: by the way, Santa Cruz Sheriff Dept. officers were close by. I got on my bike to make my way across the parking lot to a coffee shop, and they happened to be walking in the same direction, and then they yelled out accusing me of following them. I stopped and told them where I was going and that I was not following them, and then was told by this man to shut up again! I then responded "Make me!" Well, he didn't want to take it any further, I went on my way, heard the woman yell once more that I was an idiot, to which I responded as I distanced myself: "Why don't you learn how to think!"
So the fascists and the ignorant are really all around us!

the student at UFG was allowed to express his views (actually he was supposed to ask a question instead). I agree that tasing was not appropriate but noone interfered with his right to free speech.

the t-shirt incident happened in the UK, which is more of a nanny state than the US.

Regarding arrests at the SOA (or Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation how it is now called)were only made when protesters were tresapssing onto "government property". The ones ouside the gates were exercising free speech without being arrested, unless they interfered with traffic.

we are exercising free speech on this site every day. so do striking workers in a lot of places in the US. the same goes for reported or opinion writers in newspapers, on TV and on the radio.

let's not kid ourselves that there's no free speech.

happy 4th to all americans posting to day.

War criminal that Bush. Sock it to him ,protestors1

Anybody who thinks there is free speech in America is not only way too lazy to get out and try to exercise it themselves, they are so cocooned as to not even know anybody who does.

bush says they have free speach, eh? Why then did they get escorted away by the security/cops? Surely if he wanted to respect their right to seek a 'redress of grievence' he'd have listened to what they had to say, then have the courage to rebut their claims.

But, no. They were escorted away from the coward in chief. They might have the freedom to speak, but not the right to be heard.

And here is another example of the thwarting of freedom of the press right in today's CD articles.http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/07/04/10105/

Incidentally, the main protest in Charlottesville was MILES away on Rte. 20 DOWN the mountain from Monticello....at least 5 miles if I remember corectly.

Goose2 July 4th, 2008 4:30 pm ..There are many incidents, the facts of which would dispute your words. The first one that comes to mind is that kid at the University of Florida in Gainesville who was tased. Tell him about freedom of speech. Or the folks who cannot board a plane with the "wrong t-shirt". Or the priest that was arrested at the School of the Americas. How about the Democratic Convention coming up? The protestors are being kept in a cage F- A -R away from the main entrance. The list from the past eight years is endless and you know it!

THE PROSECUTION OF GEORGE W. BUSH FOR MURDER, by Vincent Bugliosi opened at number twelve with a bullet this week on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list. And yet, no corporate media outlet reviewed it. Bugliosi sent hundreds of free copies to prosecutors all over the US. Excellent reading, buy it, borrow it, get a copy from your local library. It makes the straightforward and simple legal case for a prosecutor anywhere in the USA to bring the charges. In LA, Bugliosi prosecuted 23 murder cases and won them all. In this case, Bugliosi would seek the death penalty. Since Herr Bushler won't be traveling abroad, we may be so fortunate as to have a real war trial on native soil.

Is it Kent State yet?

Many cheers and blessings to the American people who know that "being" American means "acting" like an American. The power-hungry jerks who have hijacked our governmnet should be subjected to protest as they are the true traitors of our country and its government.

"Thomas Jefferson once said he'd rather celebrate the Fourth of July than his own birthday"

The chimp puppet was directed by the capitalist, militarist, imperialist, zionist racketeers to spew this carefully crafted subliminal message to put down Jefferson and his enlightened principles any time they spontaneously pop up in the hearts and minds of the people. Jefferson's enlightened principles put the torch to all the capitalist, militarist, imperialist, zionist rackets and the racketeers know it.

Thanks to the protesters !! Just watched the videos on youtube.

dwyerj1, thanks for the Howard Zinn quote. That is from my favorite chapter of the Peoples' History, "The Coming Revolt of the Guards."

The war criminal will never again speak before an audience that hasn't been bought and paid for.

>>Galen - Just a random question: How many of these protesters will be Tasered away from the Press's watchful eye, and how many will have fatal 'accidents'<<

None Galen. We know it would make a great story, but it won't happen. For all the whining about no free speech, there seems to be plenty around, especially here on CD. For all the things said here has one person been arrested or detained or questioned? No.

It might take a little courage to stand up and say what you think, especially when you know you are going to be escorted out, but people seem to be doing it regularly and more power to them. Good 4th of July story.

There was a book out a couple of years ago called YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS. It documents stories of Americans who have attempted to exercise their free speech rights (not necessarily even verbally)in the presence of the Boy Caesar Bush and his followers. To be fair, you can get the same protesting Democrats too. However, the Bushites are more thuggish and efficient about it.

"Thomas Jefferson once said he'd rather celebrate the Fourth of July than his own birthday," said Bush, who turns 62 on Sunday. "To me it's pretty simple, the Fourth of July weekend is my birthday weekend."

This man alludes to his own greatness by comparing his presidency to that of Jefferson, he is mad, and should be jailed for all of his high crimes and horrible misdemeanors; he is a fool, and a black mark on the face of the American dream and our history.

Zac

"The elite's weapons, money, control of information would be useless in the face of a determined population. The servants of the system would refuse to work to continue the old, deadly order, and would begin using their time, their space-the very things given them by the system to keep them quiet-to dismantle that system while creating a new one. . . .

"The unexpected victories even temporary of insurgents show the vulnerability of the supposedly powerful. In a highly developed society, the Establishment cannot survive without the obedience and loyalty of millions of people who are given small rewards to keep the system going: the soldiers and police, teachers and ministers, administrators and social workers, technicians and production workers, doctors, lawyers, nurses, transport and communications workers, garbagemen and firemen. These people-the employed, the somewhat privileged-are drawn into alliance with the elite. They become the guards of the system, buffers between the upper and lower classes. If they stop obeying, the system falls" (Zinn).

Just a random question: How many of these protesters will be Tasered away from the Press's watchful eye, and how many will have fatal 'accidents'?

The nerve of this APPOINTED fascist dictator to sully the residence of Thomas Jefferson. The shrub is the one who should have been taken away. Thanks to those true patriots in my former home of Charlottesville, Va..

Those protesters gave me my biggest inspiration so far on this July 4th. Bravo. "War criminal" indeed.

I think Jefferson is rolling in his grave at Bush speaking at Jefferson's beloved Monticello.

Go, Des, Go. We'll be on the Hill on Tuesday, 7/8, Veterans for Peace and IVAW, meeting with Conyers at 2:00. Come around and see us, Medea and few did last time across the street at the Mexican joint. I did't see you though.
Desiree al-Fairooz is a great woman, a grandmother and balls like I don't know what! Love 'ya all!

Bravo, my fellow patriots! Never ever give this traitor posing as President a day off.