The T-Shirt Police

If I were them I would have been tempted to refuse to leave, let them arrest me and become the next Rosa Parks.

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Quote:

(2) The security people at these events (Secret Service, supplemented by other security forces) have a right to eject anybody they deem inappropriate for any reason, or for no good reason at all. That is their job. If they think there is the least chance of a public confrontation, out goes the potential offender.

Merry,

I just don't think this is true. I think people have a right to both free assembly and free speech. I think people have a right to not be judged by their clothing but by their actions; for example, I would never wear a Nazi uniform or support their cause but I believe it is someone's right to do so if they so choose, b/c this is America. And that someone should not be barred from hearing a public official speak, because they aren't breaking any laws or causing any problems.

See the second case I posted where a group got kicked out for having a bumper sticker that said 'no blood for oil.' Think they should have been kicked out?

Cycloptichorn

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Cyclo, I do agree with you regarding freedom of expression. I would even defend a person's right to wear a Swastika armband or a Klansman's hood. But, let me ask you this: would you defend his right to wear such accoutrements at a civil rights rally? I think the analgoy is valid. Besides the fear of being beaten up or worse, such behavior would simply be deemed inappropriate by most people.

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Of course it is tax payer funded. Who paid for the president to fly in? The Secret Service? The police protection in the towns in which the President visits? (MANY places have complained of the cost associated with a visit that are required to be paid by locals) Not to mention the public buildings in which the events are held. Who pays for them?

This has been going on for several years with this President. In that sense it is nothing new.

However, it's easy for McG or Baldimo to claim it's nothing new for this president and that others have done the same thing, but I've seen nor heard any such evidence.

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In an instructive comparison, this is what happens in the UK if people who actually heckle get thrown out at the actual party's national conference by guards: the Prime Minister apologizes. And the Party apologizes. And the Party Chairman apoligizes.

Whole other perspective on free speech, no?

Quote:

Blair apologises to 82-year-old anti-war heckler

Thursday September 29, 09:35 AM BRIGHTON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tony Blair apologised on Thursday to an 82-year-old man who was physically ejected from the Labour Party conference for heckling Foreign Secretary Jack Straw over the Iraq war.

Walter Wolfgang shouted "liar" and "nonsense" at Straw as he made his speech about Iraq on Wednesday.

Stewards threw out both Wolfgang and a delegate who had complained about the older
man's treatment.

The pictures of the incident were splashed across the front pages of several national newspapers, with the Daily Mail describing it as an example of "Freedom of speech in Blair's Britain".

Blair apologised during interviews on several television and radio broadcasts on Thursday morning.

"People are perfectly entitled to freedom of speech in our country and we should celebrate that fact and I'm really sorry about what happened to Walter and I've apologised to him," Blair told BBC television.

"It's just an unfortunate thing that happened. The Labour Party has apologised. The chairman of the Labour Party and I have apologised to him."

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The T-Shirt Police

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