Oct. 17th, 2004

pegkerr: (You do not look evil)
I keep reading stuff like this and thinking, it can't get worse than this. And then it does.

Gacked from [livejournal.com profile] fileg. Article here.

October 14 - MEDFORD –

President Bush taught three Oregon schoolteachers a new lesson in irony – or tragedy – Thursday night when his campaign removed them from a Bush speech and threatened them with arrest simply for wearing t-shirts that said "Protect Our Civil Liberties," the Democratic Party of Oregon reported.

The women were ticketed to the event, admitted into the event, and were then approached by event officials before the president’s speech. They were asked to leave and to turn over their tickets – two of the three tickets were seized, but the third was saved when one of the teachers put it underneath an article of clothing.

"The U.S. Constitution was not available on site for comment, but expressed in a written statement support for "the freedom of speech" and "of the press" among other civil liberties," a Democratic news release said.

The Associated Press and local CBS affiliate KTVL captured Bush’s principled stand against civil liberties in news accounts published immediately after the event.

The AP reported:

Three Medford school teachers were threatened with arrest and escorted from the event after they showed up wearing T-shirts with the slogan "Protect our civil liberties." All three said they applied for and received valid tickets from Republican headquarters in Medford.

The women said they did not intend to protest. "I wanted to see if I would be able to make a statement that I feel is important, but not offensive, in a rally for my president," said Janet Voorhies, 48, a teacher in training.

“We chose this phrase specifically because we didn't think it would be offensive or degrading or obscene," said Tania Tong, 34, a special education teacher.


Thursday’s event in Oregon sets a new bar for a Bush/Cheney campaign that has taken extraordinary measures to screen the opinions of those who attend Bush and Cheney speeches. For months, the Bush/Cheney campaign has limited event access to those willing to volunteer in Bush/Cheney campaign offices. In recent weeks, the Bush/Cheney campaign has gone so far as to have those who voice dissenting viewpoints at their events arrested and charged as criminals.

Thursday’s actions in Oregon set a new standard even for Bush/Cheney – removing and threatening with arrest citizens who in no way disrupt an event and wear clothing that expresses non-disruptive party-neutral viewpoints such as “Protect Our Civil Liberties.”

When Vice President Dick Cheney visited Eugene, Oregon on Sept. 17, a 54-Year old woman named Perry Patterson was charged with criminal trespass for blurting the word "No" when Cheney said that George W. Bush has made the world safer.

One day before, Sue Niederer, 55, the mother of a slain American soldier in Iraq was cuffed and arrested for criminal trespass when she interrupted a Laura Bush speech in New Jersey. Both women had tickets to the event.
pegkerr: (Is nothing safe?)
386 miles past the Falls of Rauros. We're surrounded by orcs and being forced to march with them. I don't know how much further we can go without being discovered.

Read more about the Eowyn Challenge here .
pegkerr: (That may be an encouraging thought)
I went out to the garden stores today and bought 112 tulip bulbs and 44 crocus bulbs. Now I have to plant them all. My arms hurt just thinking of it.

But in the spring my gardens are going to be beautiful,

Alone

Oct. 17th, 2004 09:09 pm
pegkerr: (I told no lies and of the truth all I co)
I have been alone for ten glorious hours. You have no idea how rare this is. Rob has been at work and the girls have spent the day out being spoiled by their grandma, who is in town. I went to a coffee shop and bought a coffee and a scone without having to buy for two little girls who squabbled over what to order because I always make them split their treat since coffee shop muffins are so big that if they each got one their dinners would be ruined. I got to wander around a garden store for an hour without anyone whining that they were bored and want to leave. I did a yoga workout. No one was blasting Avril Lavigne next door. I made a sandwich for dinner: wheat bread spread with a mixture of pumpkin, peanut butter, ricotta cheese and wheat germ. Nobody was there to complain that pumpkin was icky. I started rereading The Jane Austen Book Club. Nobody interrupted me.

Public radio is playing Evensong. The fairy lights around the ceiling of my office are lit, bathing the room with a soft indirect glow. Perhaps I shall light some candles. It is so peaceful.

It is so quiet.

When are they going to be home?

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