80 year old Anti War Deacon arrested for t-shirt
They are arresting American citizens for t-shirts that offend warhawks. They are arresting preachers in America for calling for an end to the Iraq war. They are arresting eighty year old men who openly voice their opinion peacefully.
They are arresting American citizens for exercising free speech.
We are not free to oppose the warlike among us. We are not free to express morality in a country run by the immoral. We are not free to assemble peacefully when our opinion opposes that of the corporatists.
We are not free.
Those who are for the war can assemble, protest, and even assault the antiwar crowd and not be arrested. But if you dare stand up for the thousands of soldiers who are dying to make money for the military industrial complex, you will be spat upon, you will be accosted, you will be harrassed, you will be arrested by government officials.
I don't know who I despise more, the government who is taking away our American freedom, or the pathetic citizen scumbags who assault other Americans for speaking out FOR THE TROOPS.
I take heart that more and more christians are standing up for true christian beliefs and morality against the war. I pick christians out because the pro-war, pro-torture crowd, by and large, is made up of those who consider themselves christians.
Another Gathering of Eagles brownshirt story. This weak ass nazi gets "assaulted" by an 82 year old woman after verbally abusing her veteran husband. She kicks the dumbass in his dumb ass. I guess those Octagenarian peace activists are really dangerous, after all.
She got a $25 fine. Where can I send her my $25 for standing up to these nazis?
More American Patriots, veteran and otherwise:
Amnesty International teen protest
Iraq Vet: we need to leave Iraq immediatelyVoices speak out (World Can't Wait)
Give me a link to your favorite American patriot who is working to end the war now, in the face of those who would steal our freedom...
BONUS LINK: Matt Taibbi on the Rev.Wright
13 comments:
Gathering of warhawks...
Great post, I can't believe the incident with the Eagles. Good for the 82-year-old woman for planting her foot where it belonged!
Funny they never attack me at protests. I wear my dress greens and everything, but just keep their distance? Funny, that...
Yeah. You know how these types work- they pick their opponents carefully- guys in wheelchairs, the elderly, and people they don't expect will fight back.
Ballsy eagles, aint they? The thing that pissed me off was when they jumped on that deceased soldiers father, no one came to his aid. They just sat around and hoped the police would arrest these bastards. Fighting Back involves fighting sometimes. There is nothing bad about it. Some of their own medicine would cure these pansy ass fake patriots in a heartbeat.
My favorite patriot working to end the war is Ron Paul! And, as it turns out, he has been receiving more money from soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan than any other candidate!
When was someone arrested for wearing an anti-war shirt?
Ah yes, just more front-line reporting from McSoviet America. Sovok indeed...
- Badtux the McSoviet Penguin
It's the first link in grey at the top of the post. They wanted him to turn his shirt inside out, he wouldn't so they called the cops, and he ended up being arrested.
Thanks for the link. While I think that was ridiculous, he wasn't arrested for being an anti-war protester, but for protesting inside the mall. According to them, they don't allow protests of any kind inside their property. And, according to the report, the pro-war protesters were outside the mall already. He was arrested for trespassing (because the mall asked him to leave), not for protesting.
That said, I absolutely LOVE the image of a cranky, old octagenarian in a wheelchair saying, "You want me to turn my shirt inside out? You're gonna have to take it off of me. You want me to leave? You're gonna have to ROLL me out, you bastards!!! HAHAHA!!!!"
He is my new hero.
If he had turned his shirt inside out, the mallcops would have left him alone, but instead,a t-shirt that highlighted the troops dying in Iraq got the police called and him arrested eventually.
This is happening in America everyday, as some of the other links note.
I take your point. If he had a shirt supporting Bush they wouldn't have said a thing. Perhaps if he had a shirt which said, "Turn the desert to glass," or "If you don't support the war, you support the terrorists," they might have done something, but we'll never know.
That said, I think it's more about the mall owners wanting to keep the peace and avoid people reacting to the shirts than silencing free speech. And, since it's their mall, they get to make those decisions. When they asked him to leave, he was tresspassing and the "real" police had no choice but to arrest him.
To me, the greater issue is not that they silenced protest about the war, but that they disrespected someone that old. When you get to be 80, I think you deserve to have people listen to you.
Here in California, the California Supreme Court ruled (in Pruneyard) that simply privatizing the town square by putting a roof on it and calling it a "mall" did not make it any less the town square. As long as the general public as a whole is admitted into a public space for any general purpose, it is still a public space and free speech rights apply (in California). In California you can't get irritated at having protesters outside your war-making-gear factory, and have the city deed the street in front of your factory to you and then go after the protesters for trespassing (sadly, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that it is legal in the other 49 states to do exactly that -- the Mormon church was irritated at fundamentalist protesters outside the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, so they had the city of Salt Lake City deed the street in front of the Tabernacle to the Mormon church, at which point the protesters became trespassers).
But around here it seems mostly the Dianetics cultists who take advantage of Pruneyard to hand out flyers and such in malls. Seems that free speech is all fine and everything, but nobody wants to take advantage of it. WTF?!
-Badtux the Speechifyin' Penguin
I think people are too lazy, or ignorant, to do anything about it. Panem et circenses works as well today as it did in Roman times.
But you make a good point. I think we should concern ourselves less with infractions on civil liberties, and just do what is right anyway. Like my new Octagenarian hero. Wear the shirt! No matter what anyone says, wear the shirt!
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