Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Civil liberties pop quiz:

If you think you know how many potential candidates for US Senate, present as an invited guest of a Member of Congress, were removed from the audience of the State of the Union speech tonight, placed in handcuffs, and charged by the Capitol Police with unlawful conduct, raise your hand.



Not so fast, Mr. Gonzales!

Attytood puts this moment in its proper perspective:
Did you know that in 1971, the Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional to arrest a man who wore a "F--- the Draft" T-shirt into the courthouse? (Cohen v. California, you can look it up.) So now Alito's on the court for 45 minutes and your civil liberties are already going down the toilet. You were warned.
(Thanks, Liz!)

3 comments:

my pants said...

yep, cindy sheehan did it again... and she's all over the news tonight... nice!

Anonymous said...

"Live Vote
Do you agree with the decision by Capitol Police to remove activist Cindy Sheehan from the gallery at the president's State of the Union speech because she was wearing a T-shirt with an antiwar slogan? * 144354 responses


Yes, such behavior is not allowed in that setting and is inappropriate.
53%

No, she was a legitimately invited guest and deserves to have her right to free speech honored.
47%

Not a scientifically valid survey. Click to learn more. "


From Msnbc's live vote.

Unfortunately, it appears that a majority of "good" Americans think that liberty doesn't apply to those who disagree. Why should they worry their "beautiful minds" on something so distasteful as a mother protesting the death of her son in an illegal war? "It's just so unappealing. Pass the cake please."

Nothstine said...

Hey, Gary--

Sheehan's actually threatening to run against Feinstein, not Boxer, though I don't think that really changes your point.

Thanks for the heads-up about Beverly Young; that hasn't gotten as much play yet, which is kind of surprising since Mr. Beverly Young is the chair of the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee. Hassling someone like Sheehan is little more than morning's coffee for the Bush admnistration, but pissing off a well-placed Republican member of Congress is another matter altogether.

You really think Sheehan could be the Nader to Feinstein's Gore? Seems kind of unlikely to me; her seat seems awfully safe, and Sheehan is, at the end of the day, a novelty candidate. [Of course CA elected one of those as its governor, but that was a once-in-a-lifetime fluke.]

bn