Arrested Bush dissenters eye courts

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - When school was canceled to accommodate a campaign visit by President Bush, the two 55-year-old teachers reckoned the time was ripe to voice their simmering discontent with the administration's policies.

Christine Nelson showed up at the Cedar Rapids rally with a Kerry-Edwards button pinned on her T-shirt; Alice McCabe clutched a small, paper sign stating "No More War." What could be more American, they thought, than mixing a little dissent with the bunting and buzz of a get-out-the-vote rally headlined by the president?

Their reward: a pair of handcuffs and a strip search at the county jail.

Authorities say they were arrested because they refused to obey reasonable security restrictions, but the women disagree: "Because I had a dissenting opinion, they did what they needed to do to get me out of the way," said Nelson, who teaches history and government at one of this city's middle schools.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060722/ap_on_re_us/bush_protesters

..a fricking land of the free...they hate us cuz we're free!!!

we won't be free much longer!!!!!!

......Political experts agree Bush 2004 went to greater lengths than Kerry officials — or any past campaign — to choreograph a seamless, partisan rally free of the embarrassing moments that attract media attention.

Gone are the days of candidates facing down hecklers or reacting to distractions like, the man who donned a chicken costume and pestered George H.W. Bush in 1991 after he balked at
Bill Clinton's invitations to debate.

Anthony Corrado, a nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution, said ticket-only events are an effective tool for rewarding legions of volunteers who work the phone banks, raise money and build support.

"In my view, the Republicans did a much better job of linking field volunteers with their schedule and events," Corrado said. "I had never seen it done to the extent it was on 2004 on the Republican side. And my guess is we'll probably see a lot more of it all."

When they refused to obey a request.
It is non cooperation with evil that must be preformed in order to protest it effectively.
Could one imagine MLK agreeing to not march across the Edmond Petite bridge because of a request for security reasons?
But one must be willing to go to jail for it, in fact being arrested is the only badge of success that civil disobedience has.

Attending an event featuring an elected public official, while wearing apparel that comments on public business, is not a crime!!!!!! (I hope....) Civil disobedience is when you deliberately break a bad law to test it. What these women did should not be (is not...? one never knows nowadays....) a crime!!!!!

They can arrest you for disobeying a police officer.

have been known to employ "bait-and-switch" tactics at these rallies, too.

Happened at the RNC convention. The cops told us to get off the sidewalk, which spilled people into the street. Those who spilled into the street were charged with "blocking traffic", a violation, less than a misdemeanor, but nonetheless something people were thrown in jail for, presumably to keep the dissenters off-camera. As for me, when I asked the officer where he wanted me to move to, he told me, "'round the building." As soon as I went around the building, the nets came down. I was in jail for 19 hours for following orders. Meanwhile, I hear that those who were protesting at the former World Trade Center (I refuse to use the term "Ground Zero" ) were told that they were allowed to be there, but only if they marched single-file. As soon as they did, they were arrested for "parading without a permit".

I refer you to the sit ins of the civil rights movement where they would all go to a restaurant and sit there until cops were called and everyone arrested. then the next day more show up to be arrested again, but at no time did they obey the orders from the police to disband.
Now it seems to me that the protesters are cooperating with the police and being herded into free speech zones in order to avoid the problems of arrest.
That amounts to cooperation with evil, if you believe that the cause you are fighting is evil.

is "damned if you do, damned if you don't".(And I believe that is the point of the original post, too) But I agree, throwing the tea in the harbor and refusing to sit in the back of the bus are the kinds of things that have truly brought on the social and political changes in this country.

it's the new Bush way of doing things. Dictatorship loud and clear, gotcha!

what the Bushites choose to call it!!!!!

When you're a subpar student. No wonder Bush couldn't get anywhere near them.

The man is a coward of the first water.

This article says it clearly. Bush orchestrated "ticket-holder only" events to avoid protests that spark embarrassment and attract media attention.

There's our order people. They just gave us their playbook.

We must organize massive protests when that piece of shit speaks. We must be out in the street in droves--with signs, with shirts and with our voices--attracting media attention and demonstrating that this pResident is not supported.

It can no longer people 2 people...or even 10 people. We must work together to get large groups of peaceful protesters.

These nimrod Fascist Republicans believe that they can squelch dissent by standing in front of mind-numbed robot supporters only.

We must be outside the gates--peacefully demonstrating--on a HUGE scale that CANNOT and WILL NOT be ignored by the media!!!

It's the only way.

By the way--this incident happened in my hometown--Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This is a small city in the middle of a cornfield. It's alarming that this kind of dictatorial bunk has permeated the smallest corners of the our country. It's awful anywhere that it happens, but it's a sign of bad times when they go to such extremes in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The media gave relatively little attention to the pre-War MASSIVE demonstrations, so why would they change for a few hundred at local events??

J

Should be nominated for teacher of the year...

Every other day we are reminded the Constitution is no longer operative, that tehy have drained down the toilet every good thing this country had going. This is terrible stuff.

A-O.K.

Wait and see, you will see all kinds of bizarre crap, and the cops will give 'em a pass...
$50 anyone?

Something like yellow shirts. They would be laughed out of court if they singled you out for wearing a color, but if everyone knows that a yellow shirt means a Bush Protest, then the message comes across.

In Cedar Rapids, McCabe and Nelson are suing three unnamed Secret Service agents, the Iowa State Patrol and two county sheriff deputies who took part in their arrest. Nelson and McCabe, who now lives in Memphis, Tenn., accuse law enforcement of violating their right to free speech, assembly and equal protection.

And people should be doing something big about it.

I've lost so much respect for that man. Is it possible for my percentage of respect for a person to be a negative value?

Sounds like RWers who talk about 'American values' are liars, because silencing dissent couldn't be more unamerican.

But there is a silver lining: more proof of the unamerican activities of the RWers in charge. Better for us, worse for them.

I cannot WAIT to get these SOBs out of power. I hope we clean house in November.
Ringo

the Republican war on freedom, because they are most dangerous to its foes.

swift kick in the crotch!

It's the only language they understand.

It's Bush's Amerika for sure.

What could be a better expression of our freedoms than exercising our First and Fourth Amendment rights? I've tried explaining to the Conservative sheeple in my family that if they are terrified, and willing to give up their rights so easily, the terrorists have already won. I usually get a silence and a blank stare as a response.