This is what happens when you give people civil rights... damn hippies

October 17, 2004 8:35 AM

Protecting our civil rights? We've seen the free speech zones, the kicking and hair-pulling, and the loyalty oaths/essays - but did you think that just mentioning the protection of civil rights would get you thrown out of a Bush speech?
posted by bashos_frog (33 comments total)

I should have said civil liberties, not rights. Sorry - it is late for me.
posted by bashos_frog at 8:39 AM on October 17, 2004

Oh, come on! If they weren't aren't planning on abusing their civil liberties, why were they so determined to keep them?
posted by squirrel at 8:52 AM on October 17, 2004

The word 'liberties' is too close to the word 'liberal.' If the shirts had said 'Protect our Civil Conservaties,' then they would have been fine [nonsensical, but fine].
posted by sciurus at 9:22 AM on October 17, 2004

What about "conserve our civil liberties"?
posted by Space Coyote at 9:31 AM on October 17, 2004

How about:

"Protect our Civil Liberties
to hate gays, carry guns, and invade
any damn country we want."
posted by mmahaffie at 9:40 AM on October 17, 2004

Protecting our civil liberties.
posted by homunculus at 9:43 AM on October 17, 2004

'...campaign officials...allegedly told them their T-shirts were "obscene."'

To this administration, they are.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 9:53 AM on October 17, 2004

This is a terrible thing. Compounding the sadness for me is that the article does not contain a response from the (local?) Republican officials explaining the expulsion, or even a no comment. Because either the explanation would be ridiculous or expose the assininity.
posted by billsaysthis at 10:06 AM on October 17, 2004

Meanwhile, even Bush/Cheney shirts are still permitted at Kerry rallies.
posted by bashos_frog at 10:14 AM on October 17, 2004

if george bush ever set foot within reach of me, i'd punch his fucking face.
posted by quonsar at 10:43 AM on October 17, 2004

Meanwhile, even Bush/Cheney shirts are still permitted at Kerry rallies.

Don't say that like it's an act of supreme generosity, rather than what has been and should be the de facto status quo.
posted by rushmc at 10:47 AM on October 17, 2004

You want an "official response" from the local chapter billsaythis? I don't think you are going to like it much:

"I wish (the women) would have just dressed in a way that was without that kind of intent to incite any kind of incident."
- Jackson County Republican Chairman Bryan Platt
posted by Orb at 11:07 AM on October 17, 2004

Civil liberties and concepts such as "freedom" have no place in the upcoming police state. Get used to it.
posted by fleener at 11:07 AM on October 17, 2004

And one small blurb from this news story on the subject, which I haven't seen mentioned anywhere else:

"In Jacksonville, where Bush was spending the night after his campaign appearance, police in riot gear fired paintballs filled with cayenne pepper to disperse a crowd of 500 protesters."

"The demonstrations — both pro-Bush and pro-Kerry — were peaceful, but police moved to disperse the crowd after a few protesters put their hands on police officers, said Paul Wyntergreen, the Jacksonville city administrator."

Which is why my husband and I are planning to build a sea-worthy boat and escape as soon as possible, fleener.
posted by Orb at 11:14 AM on October 17, 2004

I like this part the best:

"When Cheney visited Eugene last month, the Register-Guard newspaper reported that Perry Patterson, 54, was cited for criminal trespassing for blurting out the word "No" after Cheney claimed that the Bush administration had made the world safer."

posted by Civil_Disobedient at 11:20 AM on October 17, 2004

Ironically, it's the actions of this "pro-gun", "conservative" administration that have made me more sympathetic than ever to hard-line NRA interpretations of the "right to keep and bear arms".
posted by lodurr at 1:34 PM on October 17, 2004

This looks like it's sliced straight out of the Onion, and makes me want to cry like it were sliced out of an onion too! Although, it is F-ing hysterical... if you can forget about all the dead people for a minute.
posted by zekinskia at 2:09 PM on October 17, 2004

Hey, quonsar: let us know what the secret service say when they turn up :)
posted by kaemaril at 2:40 PM on October 17, 2004

Here's somethinh interesting, about a Daytona Bush rally (i'm not sure if it's the we will have a draft/we won't have a draft one): ... Meanwhile, anyone who wanted a ticket for the outdoor rally, to be held on the grounds of a Fentress Boulevard building owned by International Speedway Corp., got one Thursday at area Republican party headquarters, regardless of affiliation.

That was news -- bad news -- to Candy Gilman, local GOP chairwoman, who stressed in a telephone interview that the 14,000 tickets being distributed were supposed to be "just for Republicans."
...
About 5,700 tickets were distributed Wednesday. ...
posted by amberglow at 2:48 PM on October 17, 2004

Orb, this is exactly why the Bush crew scares me. Officials taking legal actions based on thought crimes even though there is no legal basis for the actions. Guantanamo, post-election, may get refilled much more quickly than any of us has yet conceived.
posted by billsaysthis at 4:27 PM on October 17, 2004

hey kaemaril: fuck the secret service.
posted by quonsar at 5:33 PM on October 17, 2004

quonsar: Just saying, buddy. You just threatened the president of the United States with an ass-kicking if you ever see him. Whereas, some people are getting visits from the SS just for having bumper stickers. Just watch your back, you never know who's reading :)
posted by kaemaril at 6:12 PM on October 17, 2004

"I wish (the women) would have just dressed in a way that was without that kind of intent to incite any kind of incident."

The mind boggles. Constitutional liberties are inciteful? To whom, Cornwallis and the fucking Redcoats?

Ironically, it's the actions of this "pro-gun", "conservative" administration that have made me more sympathetic than ever to hard-line NRA interpretations of the "right to keep and bear arms".

I used to be a great believer in this interpretation, the "citizens should have guns so they can act as the final check on a tyrannical police state" shtick. I've come to realize that, while it was a nice thought, Americans have gone soft and rotten and will never, ever, grow the fucking cojones to do a goddamn thing besides sit, drooling, Doritos within easy reach, and watch fucking Apprentice. Meanwhile, whenever someone tries to opt out of the system and is consequently crushed -- along with whatever innocents and children get in the way -- into little bitty pieces by the Feds, the rest of America, the ones whose kids didn't get burned to death so the ATF could justify its budget, will watch it like it were the latest Vin Diesel vehicle, with a few snide comments on those nutty conspiracy theorists, we sure showed them, by golly! (Cf. Justus Township, Waco Branch Davidians, Ruby Ridge.)

And then they'll change the channel, because Survivor XXIV is on, doncha know! and go back into a semi-sapient stupor till it's their door that's getting knocked on by jackbooted thugs in the wee hours.

And the best part, the real kicker, folks, is that the political classes -- people like all y'all here on the Blue, the intelligentsia, the thinking Americans, the ones you'd hope would be trying to do something about this -- will be so goddamned busy squabbling over whether the latest slaughter of innocents ought more properly to be blamed on our guy or their guy, that they'll be as useless as the rest of them! "By god, this may be a police state, but at least it's our police state!" ahahaha! Isn't that a fuckin' riot, ladies and gents!
posted by IshmaelGraves at 6:26 PM on October 17, 2004

IshmaelG - If activists can get to the bastards with pies in their faces, true militants shouldn't have any problem with a .308 and a good enough scope. You don't have to target presidents, you know. The real power-brokers rely on staying the shadows more than bullet-proof vests and body guards. You just have to shine a bright enough light on the assholes, and make sure you let everyone know why you've targetted them.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:39 PM on October 17, 2004

You just threatened the president of the United States with an ass-kicking if you ever see him.

actually, that's a rather loose restatement: i said if he ever came within my reach, i'd punch his face. i have no intention of seeking his pasty mug out myself.
posted by quonsar at 8:12 PM on October 17, 2004

Bottom line: The message "Protect our civil liberties" was deemed offensive by Oregon's local Republican party. Hilarious! I mean... forget obscene. Offensive?
posted by jmccorm at 9:01 PM on October 17, 2004

The absolute best spin the Republicans can put on this is that "Protect our civil liberties" was an indication that the person was a Democrat, and therefore a possible disruptive protestor. Of course the subtext is that there is no way a Republican would believe in protecting civil liberties.

The bad news is that 50% of the US is incapable of seeing, much less reading, the subtext.

The think I most fervently hope for from the new administration is that they foster an environment where it is no longer admirable to be an ignorant, imbecilic, hypocritical asshat.
posted by bashos_frog at 10:38 PM on October 17, 2004

Don't worry, kaemeril. We caught it.
posted by homeland security at 12:41 AM CST on October 18


Oh, like this was really any big surprise after the Battle of New York this summer... The Repubs have been waging a non-stop war on dissent for the whole of the Bush administration, starting even before the coronation.
posted by kaibutsu at 12:24 AM on October 18, 2004

Great link, homunculus. But, you know, if W gets another four, that Eleventh Circuit Court will probably see some seats open up.
posted by squirrel at 6:31 AM on October 18, 2004

Send two people to a Bush event wearing virtually identical T-shirts. One saying "Protect our Civil Liberties", the other saying "Protect our Second Amendment Liberties". The shirts should be identical otherwise. See who gets thrown out.
posted by George_Spiggott at 11:39 AM on October 18, 2004

i think they (the republicans) resented the implication that people's civil liberties were in danger from them and needed to be protected.

That doesn't make it right though. And ironically, they ended up doing exactly what was feared.

Here's my plan- grannies. Grannies and little girls on the frontlines of all protests. Let the cops imprison them, beat them, shoot them with paintballs filled with cayenne pepper (!!). Just get it all on film. Use the media, dammit.

of course, easy for me to say, being neither a granny nor a little girl...
posted by Miles Long at 5:28 PM on October 18, 2004

Yeah, but you dance like one and throw like the other, Miles.
:^D

Good idea, though.
posted by squirrel at 6:19 PM on October 18, 2004

Here's another one to add to the list.

Like many Americans, Jeff and Nicole Rank have an opinion about their president. They wore it on T-shirts that they unveiled after entering the West Virginia State Capitol grounds to hear him speak.

The his-and-her shirts included a photo of the president and the word "Bush," both sporting the international "no" symbol. His shirt also said, "Regime change starts at home." Hers said, "Love America, Hate Bush."

Shortly after revealing the shirts, two men whom the Ranks thought worked for the Secret Service or the White House demanded that the garments be removed or covered. The Ranks refused and were arrested, handcuffed and jailed for trespassing.
posted by Otis at 4:52 AM on October 21, 2004