Mr. Vice President… I think your policies in Iraq are reprehensible. Hell, I think your policies in the U.S. are reprehensible. I think you are reprehensible. So there!
(Note to Secret Service: Please email me so I can give you directions to my house. And if it’s okay with you, I’d like to arrange a time for my arrest when you can handcuff me without my daughter being present. Thanks.)
I remember when this was a free country. That was before the republican regime of Bush took over. That was all it took. Hell, the Taliban didn’t come close to doing as much damage to the Constitution as Bush and his ilk.
Heard the story already. So now criticism=assault?
Well, it’s already true that to Republicans, Iraq disaster=road to victory, GOP quid pro quo bribery=Democratic campaign fundraising, Congressmen sexually pursuing 16 years olds=adults dating, corporate market manipulation=Adam Smith’s ideal free market, so why not?
Dick had Steve Howards arrested to get a photograph of his son.
“Cut and Run” I say “Suture that cut and stop the bleading”
Apparently Mr. Cheney & his SS contingency is a little more sensitive than they were less than a year ago when Cheney went down to the Katrina aftermath and found himself the target of an incensed local who shouted “Fuck You” over the heads of the gathered.
Okay, the secret service was overly sensitive. The courts dismissed the charges. His freedom of speech was upheld. Where is the foul?
There is all sorts of nonsense said on the internet daily. I have yet to hear of anyone being suppressed by the govt. So, don’t worry – your rights are still there.
Of course, that doesn’t mean there isn’t private suppression of speech, like on Youtube. Better not post any videos critical of islam – you will be banned. Don’t insult the religion of peace or they might have to behead you.
The only “freedom” that the Republicans respect is the freedom for people to act like fawning little Republicans. Why does freedom scare them so much? I would consider it a great honor to get arrested for shouting a little truth at Dick Cheney. Steve Howards is a hero.
Janet S
The foul is getting wrongfully arrested and hauled off to jail, in front of a 7 year-old child, for exercising a First Amendment right. Do you believe such would be a pleasurable experience? Hopefully, the lawsuit will result in some measure of justice. I doubt, however, that any judgment would deter the Bushites from future acts of constitutional thuggery.
Janet S
You really are full of shit. Where is the foul???? Indeed
Cheney makes Janet all tingly.
Goldy, have you traveled by air recently? I haven’t, and for a while i’ve been wondering whether, with all the stuff I’ve posted here and elswhere, I’ve managed to get on the “no-fly” list. I’ve certainly read enough stories of people who discovered they had.
There is always more than one side to any controversy. Steve Howards says he merely “said to the vice president, “I think your policies in Iraq are reprehensible,” or words to that effect, then walked on.”
The Secret Service agents may have a different recollection of events. Their report may accuse Mr. Howards of additional conduct beyond merely speaking those words. They arrested him for “harassment” — which in the criminal context, generally means some kind of credible verbal threat of harm in the future.
Lawsuits against police are very rarely successful. It is not enough to be acquitted at trial or for charges to have been dropped. The plaintiff suing police first has to prove their innocence, with the plaintiff having the civil preponderance of the evidence burden of proof. In addition, the plaintiff has to prove, with the same civil standard, that the police lacked probable cause to arrest the plaintiff.
The same set of facts that would result in a jury, for example, acquitting someone in Mr. Howards’ position in a criminal trial, can just as easily result in a jury denying the lawsuit claims of someone in Mr. Howards’ position in a civil trial.
Momentum Buster
Foley scandal.
From the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll
Bush as Pres.
Approve 39%
Disapprove 56%
Has What You’ve Seen/Heard Over Past Few Weeks Make you ____ About Dems Becoming Majority in Cong.?
More favorable 34%
Less favorable 23%
No effect 37%
Has What You’ve Seen/Heard Over Past Few Weeks Make you ____ About GOPers Maintaining Cong. Majority?
More favorable 18%
Less favorable 41%
No effect 35%
Here’s the release for the poll.http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/ms.....elease.pdf
ArtFart,
I too expected to be on the “No Fly List” as I have signed just about every petition to impeach this admin and other such stuff but I have had no problems…so far
janet s @ 6 figuratively speaking… If “they” beheaded the wingnut talking heads the world would be a better place
Janets@6;
The foul: an american citizen exercising his first amendment right to free speech was arrested for “assault”. This arrest took place in front of his 7 year old son, but would have still been vile without the child being present.
But, here is a question. How secure now do you think the child feels? Do you think he will grow up believing that America is the land of the free?
His father was arrested because the Vice-President didn’t like his comment. Don’t you think the Secret Service would have told the arresting officers if they had heard words different than what the man remembers saying? Wouldn’t you think that those words would have been part of the investigation if they existed?
Undercover Brother @ 14:
I too expected to be on the “No Fly List” as I have signed just about every petition to impeach this admin and other such stuff but I have had no problems…so far
If the bar was that low, 60% of the populations of Seattle, Vancouver, BC, Portland, and San Francisco would be forbidden from flying or entering the country.
I am certain some people are being harassed by the government (I remember a time back in the 80s when all my mail seemed to be getting delayed and manhandled), but I also think there’s a pretty substantial gap between the number of people who THINK they’re being hassled and the number of people who really ARE being hassled.
GOLDY: IF you do get arrested you can rest easy knowing you’ll keep your head attached to the rest of you.
17 Good point. From the hassler’s point of view, it’s sufficient to hassle just enough people to get the rest worried about it.
I’ve been to public appearances by Presidents and V.P.s. And a very good friend provided personal security for LBJ. They are always accompanied by more than one personal body guard supported by a team of additional agents. How would it come to pass, that someone could make a verbal threat of harm to the Vice President of the United States and then be allowed to just walk away? Only to be arrested some time later? No rational person would except the SS agent’s claims without some clarification of that. It constitutes a major lapse of procedure and security for the V.P.
For Republicans, the institutions of government exist solely for them to reward their friends and punish those who disagree with them.
Janet S aka Pam Roach has no problem with Americans being hauled off to jail for political discussion. That’s the world she and her kind ultimately want – a theocracy where you can only say what the spiritual leader says you can see.
At what point will Americans do what they did more than 200 years ago and stand up against this sort of illegal government action?
My big question: who let Cheney escape the NeoCon Echo Chamber?
Shouldn’t his handlers have expected that something THIS TERRIBLE would actually happen – that sensitive Dick might actually hear a few words of disagreement?
The far right is known for being incredibly thin-skinned (self-hating bullies are only good at doling it out) but this is getting ridiculous.
Janet S is actually Sen. Pam Roach?
You mean the crazy lady who mailed herself ashes (from her own fireplace!) during the big Anthrax scare just to draw media attention and feed her own victim’s complex?
Too bad Pam Roach can’t keep double and triple-dipping from the government trough now that her taxpayer-funded gravy train has passed away.
Hey Janet. I bet if Bush had the Secret Service club your children to death right in front of you, with him watching over them, you would still vote for him.
People like you are the worst threat to democracy. People that can not learn.
How about sexual predator crime covering up? Catholic Cardinals, and Congressmen are above the law. All others that don’t report the crimes of sexual predators are arrested on the spot.
I have news for the GOP. The men with the handcuffs are right around the corner.
Better save some of your campaign cash for lawyers…..
Scum.
There is all sorts of nonsense said on the internet daily. I have yet to hear of anyone being suppressed by the govt. So, don’t worry – your rights are still there.
Of course, that doesn’t mean there isn’t private suppression of speech, like on Youtube. Better not post any videos critical of islam – you will be banned. Don’t insult the religion of peace or they might have to behead you.
Commentby Janet S— 10/4/06@ 11:14 am
Well, Dame Janet, (one who is nostalgic for the Roaring Twenties), we really don’t need rights do we? I mean, with all the Signing Statements and tolerance for torture and incarceration and tribunals, it is just a free for all anyway. Sure we have our rights until we don’t have them. But, not to worry. I’m sure the elite will be exempted from any infraction on our rights . . . why worry? So silly of the common people to think there might be any infringement on our rights . . . I mean, those who have already been infringed are really “nobodies” anyway. It will take a long time for any infringements to reach your class. . .
JanetS has her marching orders down: minimize or act innocent of foul corruption and criminal behavior, act as if the democrats are ‘just as bad’, live in a “state of denial”. These marching orders too, are corrupt and foul. JanetS, the abominable foul is committed by you and your kind; fascist crooks.
I watched Bill Moyers PBS special on the Abramof, Tom Delay and the K-street scandals Wednesday night. What a disgrace the republican party leaders have become.
26 “I have news for the GOP. The men with the handcuffs are right around the corner.”
Not handcuffs. Strait jackets and syringes full of Thorazine.