Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at:
http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
--- Begin Message --- -Caveat Lector-civl ecco <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
THE PRESIDENT IS COMING
GOODBYE BILL OF RIGHTS.
AMERICA'S ORWELLIAN SOCIETY
By Regis T. Sabol
Erie, PA--George Bush�s smoke-and-mirrors bus tour breezed into Erie for about an hour Saturday, just long enough to chase the Bill of Rights out of town.
Since Bush doesn�t like to see those who disagree with his policies, he has ordered the Secret Service to create �Free Speech Zones.� A Free Speech Zone is a pen, enclosure, or blocked off street far from King George�s presence. Here his opponents may express their First Amendment rights where they will not be seen or heard and where they will have no effect. In this case, a Free Speech Zone is a moronic oxymoron.
I must admit that the Bush campaign team is getting smarter when it comes to dodging protest demonstrations. In Erie, Bush wasn�t scheduled to arrive until 3:30 p.m. His bus showed up an hour ahead of schedule.
What makes this significant is that the local Kerry campaign had organized a counter rally in the city square, 20 blocks north of the stadium. That rally, which attracted about 300 Kerry supporters and Bush haters of all stripes, got started at about 1:30. The plan was for those attending the rally to walk the 20 blocks up State Street after the speeches had ended to give Bush the welcome he deserved. As it turned out, Bush was already in the stadium by the time the demonstrators arrived at the �Free Speech Zone.�
Being a block away from the stadium, we couldn�t hear a word Bush said, which, when you think of it, isn�t that great a loss. The local newspaper said it was exactly the same speech he�d given several hours before in a small Ohio town.
All we could hear was the roar of the adoring crowd over and over and over as if they hadn�t heard it all before over and over and over. They didn�t care. They acted like Jesus reincarnated was speaking from the mountain top. From what I�ve read, Bush himself thinks he has a direct line to Jesus. I somehow doubt that Jesus would pick up the phone.
The swelling cheers, jeers, and applause did remind me of another well known historical figure who knew how to whip up a crowd into a mindless frenzy. It�s not likely that the guy I�m thinking of could favorably be compared to Jesus.
As I said, these Bushies know what they�re doing. They don�t miss a trick. The Bush campaign committee managed to fill the 18,000 seat stadium to beyond its capacity by busing supporters in from anywhere their tentacles could reach. For example, while Kerry is habitually notoriously late for campaign appearances, as was Bill Clinton, the Bushies make it a point to be right on time. This time they made it a point to get to the stadium well before those nasty, unpatriotic protesters could get within range. Pretty clever, I must admit.
The Republican-orchestrated rally at Veterans Stadium set a dubious standard for Orwellian double-speak. Erie County GOP Chairman John Mizner had announced that Bush�s campaign appearance was open to the public but those attending needed to get tickets from Republican campaign headquarters in order to gain admission.
However, the good folks at Republican headquarters reserved the right to deny tickets to those they considered unacceptable--unacceptable being anyone who did not indicate undying fealty to the Republican Party or who might be considered a troublemaker, a troublemaker being one who might, perhaps, disagree with Bush�s policies. So much for the Bush rally being open to the public.
Since anyone entering Veterans Stadium had to have a ticket, Erie Police Chief Charles Bowers ruled that the police had an obligation to keep protesters at least a block away from the stadium because Bush�s campaign appearance was, to use his words, �a private event by invitation only.�
Did someone forget to tell the police chief that Veterans Stadium is owned by the taxpayers of the city and that the public has a right to attend an event billed as �open to the public�? Or, at the very least, all citizens should enjoy the same access to public sidewalks--the sidewalk across the street from the stadium would do--as those attending the private party. Why did the Secret Service or Chief Bowers deem it necessary to cordon off the streets--from anyone who did not have a magic ticket--with a phalanx of armed police officers backed up by a contingent of police mounted on horses?
Actually, every street within two blocks of the stadium was shut down. Residents living inside the security zone were ordered to remain indoors. Otherwise, they would be considered potential terrorists. Ah, the joys of living in the land of the free.
For some inexplicable reason, the �invitation only� rule remained in effect long after the Bush bus headed to the airport. As the GOP faithful streamed out of the stadium and walked up West 26th Street or down State Street, demonstrators were still denied access to the public streets and sidewalks. Thus we had the spectacle of smug Republicans jauntily walking along the sidewalks while protesters were forbidden to use the very same sidewalks.
Why? The �invitation only� event �open to the public� was over; Bush was long gone. Shouldn�t the barriers have gone down after Elvis left the building?
The upshot of it all is that Bush�s private party that drew Republicans from near and far, many of them bused in from points unknown, cost the taxpayers of the City of Erie more than $100,000 in overtime pay to law enforcement officers and in providing other security measures. In other words, Bush�s visit was a financial nightmare for the city. Shouldn�t the Bush Campaign get a bill for services rendered?
Then there were all those people who discovered they were temporarily living in a cordoned-off ghetto. And, of course, the entire spectacle made a mockery of the United States Constitution, which, as I recall, the president swore to uphold and defend.
But why quibble about such minor inconveniences? The President came to town! The President came to town! Hurray!
Regis T. Sabol is a contributing editor to Intervention Magazine. He is also editor of A New Deal: an online magazine of political, social, and cultural thought. You can email him at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Posted Tuesday, September 7, 2004email to a friend
print this page
Go to home page
![]()
If you enjoyed
this article,
please read . . .
� Can America Change Before It�s Too Late? (09/08/04)
� Riding Fear To Victory? (09/06/04)
� Counterfeit Conservatism (09/06/04)
� The President�s Coming! Goodbye Bill of Rights (09/06/04)
� Boots of Death and Words of Outrage (09/06/04)
� The Coming Bush Draft (09/06/04)
� The Plastic Paladin (09/05/04)
� There�s Something About W (09/02/04)
� Republicans Insult Wounded Veterans (09/02/04)
� Exploiting The Pain of Vietnam Veterans (09/01/04)
"Get off of your ass and take your government back!" ~Rocky
"Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave." -Frederick Douglass
Please let us stay on topic and be civil.-Home Page- www.cia-drugs.org
OM
Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
ADVERTISEMENT
Yahoo! Groups Links
www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
- To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cia-drugs/
- To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
- Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at:
http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
--- End Message ---
