Connecticut ping!
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Posted on 04/04/2007 10:45:03 AM PDT by Graybeard58
They came bearing chocolate chip cookies, as grandmothers often do. The nice man at the Army recruiting office wasn't interested.
After listening to their anti-war spiel and resisting their pleas for him to quit his job, the recruiter asked the ladies to leave. He was polite, but he had work to do.
"I said, 'That's where the rub comes, because we have work to do, too,' " said Paki Wieland, a 63-year-old with two grandsons. "Our work is to stop your work."
That's when the police came to haul away Wieland and four other grandmothers on trespassing charges.
Such things can happen when you're a Raging Granny, a member of an international group of socially conscious women who demonstrate against things like consumerism, poverty and war.
And on Tuesday, they had their day in court.
Other than the brightly colored hats they wear at rallies to sing protest songs, nothing seems too unusual about the five grandmothers arrested in November at the Army recruiting office in Greenfield.
They all have gray hair, except for the youngest -- 62-year-old Dusty Miller. Ann Wilson is the oldest. At 77, she wears a hearing aide, walks with a cane and has a tube blowing oxygen into her nose to ease the troubles of heart disease.
A few had been arrested at other civil disobedience demonstrations; others found themselves in hot water for the first time.
"I thought I'd be dead before I was ever arrested," Wilson said.
But she and the others say they were compelled to take some sort of action against a war they call unjust.
So it was decided last November they should visit the Army recruiting officer in Greenfield. At best, they'd get him to quit his job. At the least, they might be able to close the office for a little while, preventing one or two people from enlisting.
"This is not about serving your country," 68-year-old Hattie Nestel said when asked if she respects those who enlist. "This is serving the war machine."
About 30 grandmothers showed up at the recruiting office with plates of cookies. After being told to leave, five of them stayed until the police took them away.
The criminal trespassing charges were later converted to less serious civil infractions. Still, the commonwealth wanted its due: a $50 fine per grandmother.
In Greenfield District Court on Tuesday, the grannies each gave Judge Herbert Hodos their reason for their actions and accepted responsibility. He warned them they'll now have a permanent mark on their record, the judge let them walk without a fine.
So what's next for these Raging Grannies?
"It's hard to know what to do next," said Wilson, whose four grandchildren called Tuesday morning to say they are proud of her. "There's always tax resistance."
Yes, and you can see the devastating results. Very, very saggy.
I am a “granny” myself, and if I had seen that phony cookie gambit, I would have fed those old hippies the plate they were stacked on!
The same Rosenberg's whose guilt was proven by the Venona Documents?
The Democrats won't appreciate it. You'll serve time for that.
He warned them they’ll now have a permanent mark on their record, the judge let them walk without a fine.
The way to stop these hags is to fine them a Grand each and not let them out until they pay up.
Any of these grannies oppose the Bosnian intervention? No? THEN SHUT THE **** UP!
Geez, just because hippies are so danmed old by now doesn’t make them any more newsworthy. These are just aging hippies, not “grannies.”
Noone in the Federal Gov’t. has the cajones to charge those floopie grannies with anything at all! I would like to crumble their cookies for them and shove them up where the sun don’t shine while telling them to kiss my granola!
The highlight of the CNN story was when a liberal judge found them guilty, gave a speach about how great their cause was, and let them off with no penalties.
Another leftie judge.
If it was their first offense, then “just a fine” seems ok — but it should be more than $50. It should be enough to cover the government’s costs of dealing with the case: Sending police, involving the DA’s time, involving the court’s time. $400 sounds about right.
E.PU, love the Venona reference, too bad more people don’t take the time to read it or to explore the democide record of their commie/socialist heroes!
Definitely these granny hags are as dumb as they ever were.
ping!
Activist courts BUMP.
Rarely are Liberals prosecuted for their protests. They get arrested and then the shadow government drops the charges from within the system.
$50. Pfft. You'll pay more in fines and tows if you park on the wrong block. They are interrupting the legal tasks of federal employees.
The war we fight in Iraq is not the war we started in Iraq in 2003. The Cold War we fought in Europe AFTER WWII (against the Soviet Union) was not the same war we fought in Europe from 1938-1945 (against Fascist Italy and Fascist Germany).
There are currently no laws against sedition. They come and go (short life, often repealed).
HOWEVER treason is constitutionally defined and never goes away (at least without Constitutional Amendment).
PART I - CRIMES
CHAPTER 115 - TREASON, SEDITION,
AND SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES
Sec. 2388. Activities affecting armed forces during war
(a) Whoever, when the United States is at war, willfully makes or conveys false reports or false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies; or
Whoever, when the United States is at war, willfully causes or attempts to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or willfully obstructs the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States, to the injury of the service or the United States, or attempts to do so--
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.
(b) If two or more persons conspire to violate subsection (a) of this section and one or more such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each of the parties to such conspiracy shall be punished as provided in said subsection (a).
(c) Whoever harbors or conceals any person who he knows, or has reasonable grounds to believe or suspect, has committed, or is about to commit, an offense under this section, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.
(d) This section shall apply within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States, and on the high seas, as well as within the United States. http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=browse_usc&docid=Cite:+18USC2388
AMEN, FRiend...
Connecticut ping!
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