Democratic National Convention

[Mjolnir]

how do the dem's in Boston get away with their shit? they created a caged area for the people protesting. can you imagine the shit storm if the republicans did the same? a pizza restaraunt owner put up a banner saying bush in 04 and the leaders of the city are harrasssing him to take it down. freedom of speach unless you don't like what they say hunh asswipes.
:thefinger

 

[StevieD]

The administration quarantines dissent.


By James Bovard

On Dec. 6, 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft informed the Senate Judiciary Committee, ?To those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty ? your tactics only aid terrorists, for they erode our national unity and ? give ammunition to America?s enemies.? Some commentators feared that Ashcroft?s statement, which was vetted beforehand by top lawyers at the Justice Department, signaled that this White House would take a far more hostile view towards opponents than did recent presidents. And indeed, some Bush administration policies indicate that Ashcroft?s comment was not a mere throwaway line.

When Bush travels around the United States, the Secret Service visits the location ahead of time and orders local police to set up ?free speech zones? or ?protest zones? where people opposed to Bush policies (and sometimes sign-carrying supporters) are quarantined. These zones routinely succeed in keeping protesters out of presidential sight and outside the view of media covering the event.

When Bush came to the Pittsburgh area on Labor Day 2002, 65-year-old retired steel worker Bill Neel was there to greet him with a sign proclaiming, ?The Bush family must surely love the poor, they made so many of us.? The local police, at the Secret Service?s behest, set up a ?designated free-speech zone? on a baseball field surrounded by a chain-link fence a third of a mile from the location of Bush?s speech. The police cleared the path of the motorcade of all critical signs, though folks with pro-Bush signs were permitted to line the president?s path. Neel refused to go to the designated area and was arrested for disorderly conduct; the police also confiscated his sign. Neel later commented, ?As far as I?m concerned, the whole country is a free speech zone. If the Bush administration has its way, anyone who criticizes them will be out of sight and out of mind.?

At Neel?s trial, police detective John Ianachione testified that the Secret Service told local police to confine ?people that were there making a statement pretty much against the president and his views? in a so-called free speech area. Paul Wolf, one of the top officials in the Allegheny County Police Department, told Salon that the Secret Service ?come in and do a site survey, and say, ?Here?s a place where the people can be, and we?d like to have any protesters put in a place that is able to be secured.?? Pennsylvania district judge Shirley Rowe Trkula threw out the disorderly conduct charge against Neel, declaring, ?I believe this is America. Whatever happened to ?I don?t agree with you, but I?ll defend to the death your right to say it???

 

[StevieD]

If the FBI publicly admits that it is surveilling antiwar groups and urging local police to send in information on protestors, how far might the feds go? It took over a decade after the first big antiwar protests in the 1960s before the American people learned the extent of FBI efforts to suppress and subvert public opposition to the Vietnam War. Is the FBI now considering a similar order to field offices as the one it sent in 1968, telling them to gather information illustrating the ?scurrilous and depraved nature of many of the characters, activities habits, and living conditions representative of New Left adherents??but this time focused on those who oppose Bush?s Brave New World?

Is the administration seeking to stifle domestic criticism? Absolutely. Is it carrying out a war on dissent? Probably not?yet. But the trend lines in federal attacks on freedom of speech should raise grave concerns to anyone worried about the First Amendment or about how a future liberal Democratic president such as Hillary Clinton might exploit the precedents that Bush is setting.
______________________________________________

James Bovard is the author of Terrorism & Tyranny: Trampling Freedom, Justice, and Peace to Rid the World of Evil.

December 15, 2003 issue
Copyright ? 2003 The American Conservative

 

[RAYMOND]

this country of our is going backward

 

[DOGS THAT BARK]

do a search on" protest GOP convention"

It brings out every left org there is. Do any of these people have jobs? or is it there jobs?

How about this for aiding terrorist-----

Anarchists Pursue Chaos at GOP Convention

Tuesday, July 13, 2004



NEW YORK ? Radical protesters are reportedly trying to cause chaos at the Republican National Convention (search) in New York City at the end of August.

Reports show that fringe groups are hatching a plot on the Internet, telling people how to attack and trick police with the ultimate goal of evacuating Madison Square Garden (search). The suggestions include everything from throwing marbles in the path of police-mounted horses to going to shooting ranges before heading to the convention so that their clothes will reek of gunpowder and trick bomb-sniffing dogs on the subways and commuter trains.

New York City police (search) say they are worried about the tactics diverting their time and resources from preventing authentic attacks, and add that they are preparing for "black blocs" of anarchists who cover their face with bandanas and vandalize corporate targets

 

[gardenweasel]

the right to protest?....this isn`t a protest...it`s a planned assault....a tactical disruption....

which, i guess,is legal....

but what these morons don`t understand is that they are running interference for a potential real terrorist attack...

or......do they understand that ?...

it`s these morons....and the micharl moore`s of the world... that keep middle of the road moderate americans from seriously looking at kerry and edwards...a kind of "guilt by association"...and it`s not entirely a fair correlation..

it`s a damned shame...

fools...

 

[StevieD]

:cursin:

 

[djv]

Who are these far right dudes anyway.

 

[gardenweasel]

check out both conventions,djv.......let`s see from where the more radical demonstrations come.....

lets bring this thread back up and see on which side of the fence the real,hardcore radicals reside....

 

[StevieD]

Not sure GW but I think McVie and Nichols are on the Right. It will be hard to top them.

 

[homedog]

65-year-old retired steel worker Bill Neel was there to greet him with a sign proclaiming, ?The Bush family must surely love the poor, they made so many of us.?

I think I would blow my head off right now if I thought the next president elected could make me poor. What a sorry excuse for an American. :nutkick :nooo: :bsflag :flush:

 

[gardenweasel]

mcvie and nichols were anti-government...they were sociopaths.....i guess by your logic that makes manson and dahmer republicans...

and minister fahrakan`s a democrat.....because he`s black........and john hinckley,jr`s a democrat also...because he shot reagan...right?...

lol

let`s stay on point...let`s watch the conventions and see whose constituents disgrace themselves and their party..

aren`t you curious?

 

[StevieD]

GW, so by your logic the pro lifers who blow up abortion clinics are not true Republicans but any one disgracing the flag is just showing his true Democratic colors? There is plenty of room for disgrace on both sides. You right wingers can't have it both ways.

 

[DOGS THAT BARK]

Now Steve I believe I made same reference to pro-lifers being as bad or worse just a few weeks ago. Correct?

 

[StevieD]

Dogs you most likely did. But I was replying to a post by GW. The left has it's share of nut cases. That goes without question. But so does the Right. GW was trying to make a point that the "real hardcore radicals" come from the left. In my opinion the left gets most of the headlines because the nuts on the left are more flambouyant than the fruit cases on the right but the ones on the right are far more dangerous. Now before everybody gets their panties in a bunch I am talking about the outer frindges of both sides.

 

[gardenweasel]

actually,i believe in a woman`s right to choose..and if i had my way,those fanatics would be drawn and quartered...and i believe the "far" religious right is downright silly.....


and i`m a raging neocon,right?.....

my point is that there`s a certain hysterical element emcompassed in radical democratic attacks on bush and all republicans in this country and abroad.....

and that`s what spurs me to respond to some of the outrageous crap that i read and hear regarding this administration...


it borders on insanity...


some say that as the left loses more and more power,the viciousness of the hyprbole and character assasination gets ratcheted up...

if bush happens to win,and i have my doubts,this country will become a war zone....


thanks to guys like you....that actually believe that bush sent young americans into iraq to die for the sake of haliburton(you have to be a moron to believe that)..and these idiots that have nothing better to do with their time than dust their clothes with gunpowder or whatever trying to disrupt the legitimate political process....nothing better to do with their dirty, disheveled selves than create kaos...


as i said,it wouldn`t be devastating to me if kerry wins the election....as long as he keeps national security at the top of his to-do list....

i don`t hate kerry...i don`t think things will change that drasticallly if kerry wins.....it`s not personal for me...

but,then,i`m a realist..

stevie,no offense intended,but here`s a profound quote that might be worth keeping at hand...

"" Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, but to weigh and consider."".....

there is a middle ground...bush is doing what he believes is in the best interests of this country...and kerry will,also....i have no question that both men are patriots...and love our country...

i just tire of all the name calling and the rhetoric...

and my point is that unfortunately,at this point in time,the left side of the aisle has gone way over the top....

of course,this type of behavior is not unique to the left...the whole clinton impeachment deal.... because he lied about a blow job was utterly ridiculous..

the man should never have had to endure that...it was pathetic, unnecessary and extremely partisan.....

which may be partially to blame for the political climate we now see...

 

[loophole]

gw, agree with just about everything you said. i think politics and politicians on both sides are nastier and less trustworthy than any time in recent memory. i blame television, and more recently the internet, for turning politics into a money game run by ad men and spin doctors, where the attractiveness of talking heads and the snappiness of sound bites mean more than honor and integrity. for that reason, i distrust bush and i distrusted clinton, but in different ways.

clinton was a smart guy from relative modest origins; lets face it, he's basicly a southern trailer park guy that got an education, and then put himself in the right place at the right time. patriot - sure; pocket-lining opportunist - you bet. i mean, c'mon, he was broke before he got into politics. hell, he was broke before he moved into the white house, but from what i see, he sure as hell ain't broke now.

on the other hand, from what i know i have to say that dubyah has been anything other than an underachiever blessed with the proverbial silver spoon. everything he is he owes to the icons of a cartel of privilege, whose best interest may or may not be consistent with the rest of us. patriot - no doubt, but maybe a patriot with an agenda dictated by those that put him where he is.


which is worse, you may ask? if i knew the answer to that one, i'd run myself. kerry i see as the worst of both worlds - an ambitious overachieving son of privilege, only difference is he rises from a different power base because of where he is from.

hence, i find myself kinda undecided, know what i mean?

 

[djv]

I don't understand why a liberal would protest. I been led to believe by many poster here that liberals don't give a chit about anything. Am I now being told they have issues with the biggest spender of all time. Yes Bush 43. And the city of Boston for building a gage they must stay in to protest. Good Luck with that. That alone is so UN American that half the city of Boston should protest there cities idea of freedom.

 

[homedog]

I guess it is a complete coinicidence that Peter Jennings and Katie Couric are sitting with Kerry at tonight's Yanks/Bosox game

I'll bet Pete sticks it in Katie tonight :scared

 

[ferdville]

djv - show me any post by all the radical neo-cons here that suggests that "liberals don't give a chit about anything." Far from that, the liberal credo as well as that based on Bush and the religious right is that only THEY know what is best for society. THEY are the only ones that can lead us to the promised land - a land where their policies and their policies only are correct. Both sides want the same thing. The only thing different about the liberals is that they want me and every other taxpayer to foot the bill for their blueprint of society. The guys on the right get their loot through big business, or so they say. I think that one of our biggest problems today is that it is so hard to find a middle ground, a policy maker that the average guy can stand behind. All the politicos are so beholden to special interest groups that our government has gone to hell in a handbasket and it doesn't really matter who the president is.