We stumbled upon an eye-opening July 22, 2006 Associated Press article on the Forbes Magazine website a couple of days ago:
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) - When school was canceled to accommodate a campaign visit by President Bush, the two 55-year-old teachers reckoned the time was ripe to voice their simmering discontent with the administration's policies.You can read the rest of the article here.
Christine Nelson showed up at the Cedar Rapids rally with a Kerry-Edwards button pinned on her T-shirt; Alice McCabe clutched a small, paper sign stating "No More War." What could be more American, they thought, than mixing a little dissent with the bunting and buzz of a get-out-the-vote rally headlined by the president?
Their reward: a pair of handcuffs and a strip search at the county jail.
Authorities say they were arrested because they refused to obey reasonable security restrictions, but the women disagree: "Because I had a dissenting opinion, they did what they needed to do to get me out of the way," said Nelson, who teaches history and government at one of this city's middle schools.
How about it, gentle readers? are there local implications here? Is it OK for Boss Godfrey to rent out public parks and sidewalks, and allow private promoters to engage in viewpoint discrimination? What about the First Amendment? Is it alright to single out and ban the discussion of the gondola topic at the Farmers' Market, for instance, while politicians and political wonks of all other stripes and issues continue to stroll the event freely, peddling their own pet political issues and causes?
Comments are invited, as always.
