Posted on 07/26/2004 4:28:05 PM PDT by Lazamataz
A military policeman looks down from elevated train tracks at protestors in the 'free speech zone' set up for demonstrators, outside Boston's Fleet Center, the venue for the 2004 Democratic National Convention, July 26, 2004. Hearing police helicopters circle overhead and Secret Service vehicles rumble day and night, some of Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites)'s neighbors are angry at how the area's most famous resident has disrupted daily life Photo by Marc Serota/Reuters
Is it worth it?
Nothing like getting rediculous for 5 minutes of press time. Better to just call into CNN.
By the way, protesters in the 60s always gave away flowers to the guards.
It was a really nice country while it lasted.Did you think it would last forever? Get with the new order, dude.
"Heh-heh--yeah, just like Gitmo........"
I was surprised it lasted as long as it did.
We beat the Soviet Union.
So we became them.
So we became them.Not quite. We have a higher GDP, higher life expectancies, better standard of living etc. At least until Kerry gets elected. Then we can kiss it all goodbye.
"... just like Gitmo..."
Not quite: there has to be a rifle (pointed down) and the policeman should be either in the process of blowing his nose (in the onlooker's general direction, without a handkerchief) or voiding.
Could our newest found 'freedom',(yet to be discovered in our constitution), be the power or 'freedom' to erect 'zones' that infringe on freedom itself?
"Mr. Orwell to the white-courtesy phone!"
Those are all products of freedom.
We are feasting on the corpse.
The fact there is a Free Speech Zone pretty much tells everyone the rest of the area is a No Free Speech Zone.
Well, if that pic is legit as to the 'free speech zone', then you nailed it!
I think this presents a HUGE opportunity for the RNC. They should set aside about 1 hour where they allow protesters _on the convention floor_. Get them to sign a promise to be civil, but let them in. Either:
1) The protesters behave and the RNC look like paragons of tolerance, or:
2) All hell breaks loose, and the left gets a _big_ black eye.
We can't lose! Heehee!
They are acting like the terrorists in Gitmo and are deservedly behind the razor wire.
Yep, but the policeman acts like a softy.
Nice. When did they slip that through? Part of the Patriot Act?
What do you mean? Do you think the Republicans are going to do this to people? This is the democrats doing. They are going to try to make a statement that this is what the country has come to, but they are the only ones that have come to this.
-PINGING THE BLACK HELICOPTER-EVILASHCROFTRIANS-
Laz...
I understand your concern but what's the alternative?
We are at war.......
NeverGore :^)
Not so. Read on:
“Free-Speech Zone” - The administration quarantines dissent.
...When Bush travels around the United States, the Secret Service visits the location ahead of time and orders local police to set up “free speech zones” or “protest zones” where people opposed to Bush policies (and sometimes sign-carrying supporters) are quarantined. These zones routinely succeed in keeping protesters out of presidential sight and outside the view of media covering the event.
When Bush came to the Pittsburgh area on Labor Day 2002, 65-year-old retired steel worker Bill Neel was there to greet him with a sign proclaiming, “The Bush family must surely love the poor, they made so many of us.” The local police, at the Secret Service’s behest, set up a “designated free-speech zone” on a baseball field surrounded by a chain-link fence a third of a mile from the location of Bush’s speech. The police cleared the path of the motorcade of all critical signs, though folks with pro-Bush signs were permitted to line the president’s path. Neel refused to go to the designated area and was arrested for disorderly conduct; the police also confiscated his sign. Neel later commented, “As far as I’m concerned, the whole country is a free speech zone. If the Bush administration has its way, anyone who criticizes them will be out of sight and out of mind.”...
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