(no subject)

[pegkerr]

I keep reading stuff like this and thinking, it can't get worse than this. And then it does.

Gacked from 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.

Comments

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

Holy hell. I'm afraid of your country.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

*Sigh* So am I. But we're trying to get it back.

[fileg.livejournal.com]

If I tried to mention everything that makes me want to scream about this election, I would never have time to do anything else. I have picked my own topic for righteous wrath, and it's words.

(For keeping up with the rest, I read bellatrys

"Unleash the armies of compassion?" I haven't been so enraged since "Mother of all Wars."

[klostes.livejournal.com]

What I can't figure out is why this isn't front page news all over the country!

[copperwise.livejournal.com]

I wish I were shocked.

[vass]

Peg, I'm so sorry. This is disgusting, intolerable.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Because it isn't only the government, it's the press.

This is really scary. This isn't the kind of thing people would do if they were afraid they were going to get called on it.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Agreed. The press is an accomplice in this.

B

[jlh.livejournal.com]

It isn't front page news because they've been doing this at every campaign event they've had, all across the country, which means that under the "standards" of journalism, it isn't news. (However, there was a story about this issue about a week ago on NPR's Morning Edition.) It might not be a Kerry button, but it is a crack at the Patriot Act, and they're sensitive about that.

[bobhowe.livejournal.com]

I'm disgusted, but not surprised.

[lkw18.livejournal.com]

What is going to happen to this country if Bush wins again?

When people in authoritative positions repress others it is a sign of weakness and insecurity.

[avengangle.livejournal.com]

$%^&%*(6574&*&IUTYJU%^&%^^##$@$%$^&()*&^%$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And that's all I have to say about that.

*goes to knit a BAN BUSH hat*

[no-remorse.livejournal.com]

Perry Patterson was charged with criminal trespass for blurting the word "No"


Welcome to 1984.

[chamisa.livejournal.com]

So, so scary and so, so wrong. :-(

I don't know if I really ought to take hope in this at all, but I was heartened to see that one of my local newspapers, the Albuquerque Tribune, endorsed Kerry. And so did the New York Times. And in the Tribune the other day was an article by a fabulous writer named Sarah Bird (author of such wonderful books as The Yokota Officers Club, The Boyfriend School, and Alamo House).

Bird lives in Austin but grew up in Albuquerque, and she came back to work with the League of Conservation Voters recently in a door-to-door campaign to let people know that the League has, for the first time in its history, endorsed a presidential candidate, and that candidate is Kerry. Bird wrote about what it was like to knock on people's doors to talk about the election, and about the League's endorsement of Kerry. It's something positive to focus on, anyway. I hope.

[psychic-serpent.livejournal.com]

Between this and the RNC-funded "voter registration" organizations trashing Democratic registrations I think it's clear that the Republicans decided long ago (like about 5 years ago) that they can't win by playing fair so they're going to pull every damn dirty trick in the book--and then some, because they're too underhanded to let ALL of the dirty tricks be published in a book where just anyone can read them. ;)

This is exactly why I dearly hope we actually HAVE an election, because if they get really desperate you can bet your bottom we won't. Things like the ejection of people wearing "Protect our Civil Rights" T-shirts is why I think Bush wants to be Dictator for Life. He sure as hell doesn't understand why we do NOT have sedition laws in this country. This sort of crap is what monarchs used to pull, TRUE monarchs, not ones who were figureheads with an elected government that really ran things. It's pretty clear that he bloody well thinks he's King George and wants it to stay that way.

God help us all.

[kk1raven.livejournal.com]

When Bush appeared in my area, several people were kicked out. The ones that really made the news here were two neighborhood boys who were given tickets after spending several hours helping to set up the room the day before. They were kicked out not because of anything either of them did, but because the mother of one of them allowed protestors to stand on her lawn.