Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Good Demonstrations and Bad Demonstrations

There is a clear indication of where we are headed as a police state in the events surrounding the Cindy Sheehan arrest last night at the SOTU. There is an ordinance that prohibits demonstrations in the Capitol building. If you stand and wave a purple finger at a SOTU address you are not arrested. But if you wear a T-shirt that says "2245 Dead. How many more?", you are arrested. Clearly administration-friendly demonstrations are allowed despite the ordinance but the full weight of the law is exercised if one is the least bit critical.

It appears that the Capitol Police now acknowledge that the arrest of Cindy and the expulsion of Beverly Young were mistakes. Just between you, me, and the fence-post I think someone gave the Police instructions to be on the lookout for T-shirts with words without even bothering to check the rules.

No comments: