October 16, 2003

Free Speech Cages

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/10/16/secret_service/index.html

The Secret Service has been ordering local law enforcement officials to remove protestors from Bush's sight and pen them up in so-called free speech zones. In the example cited in the article, this was a remote fenced-in baseball diamond. Protestors who refused to be put in the paddock were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. There are photos of one such area in an ACLU article here.

That sounds like a contradiction in terms: free speech zone. I thought that everywhere was a free speech zone, as long as it's public property and your speech is not threatening toward anyone. Apparently, though, in the US under the current administration (which looks more and more like a proto-police state), free speech can be caged up and hidden from view.

If you value your remaining freedoms, please give to the ACLU, write your representatives and senators, sign petitions, anything that gets your voice heard.

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." --Ben Franklin

Posted by mike, October 16, 2003 9:10 AM
Comments

I read a month or two or three ago something where anti-Bush protesters were allowed to protest at some function Bush was attending... but had to do it away from the location Bush was going to be. Meanwhile, pro-Bush supporters were allowed to gather at the site where Bush was passing through. The ACLU protested this move.

Unfortunately, I cannot remember the details, source, or when I read it. So it must not be true. :P

Posted by: Shane at October 16, 2003 10:16 AM

I'm a card carrying member of the ACLU.

Posted by: travis at October 16, 2003 11:43 AM

Me too.

Posted by: mike at October 16, 2003 11:47 AM

This makes me sick. More and more I think Bush is more dangerous than he is stupid. I think he loves that people think he's stupid. Everytime I tell people that he's not that dumb they laugh at me and think I'M the idiot. But it's stories like this that confirm my suspicions. He plays the country bumpkin and everyone laughs as he methodically chips away at our personal freedoms. It's all in the name of freedom, of course. How ironic. I just joined the ACLU. It's about time I did SOMETHING.

Posted by: Shawn at October 17, 2003 8:09 AM