Re: REST of the WORLD is ENVIOUS of AMAZING FREEDOM ENJOYED by AMERICANS

[Gunner <gunner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, 10 Jul 2006 21:49:58 -0700, "enigma" <enigma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

>If you really want to test your "free speech" rights, wear your GAY PRIDE
>t-shirt into a redneck cowboy bar in Montana.


Or wave a Fuck the Fags t-shirt in a gay bar in Frisco.

Knuckleheads can be found in all sides of the political spectrum.

In fact..try bringing a Conservative speaker onto most college campus's
today.

It would appear that the Left has no use for Free Speech.

Gunner

>
>"McGinnn" <McGinnn@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>news:44b1ac06$0$23711$a8266bb1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> http://www.counterpunch.org/ferner07012006.html
>>
>> Weekend Edition
>> July 1 - 2, 2006
>>
>>
>> Has This Country Gone Completely Insane?
>>
>>
>> Getting Busted for Wearing a Peace T-Shirt
>>
>>
>> By MIKE FERNER
>>
>>
>> Yesterday afternoon, drinking a cup of coffee while sitting in the
>> Jesse Brown V.A. Medical Center on Chicago's south side, a Veterans
>> Administration cop walked up to me and said, "OK, you've had your 15
>> minutes, it's time to go."
>>
>>
>> "Huh?", I asked intelligently, not quite sure what he was talking
>> about.
>>
>>
>> "You can't be in here protesting," Officer Adkins said, pointing to my
>> Veterans For Peace shirt.
>>
>>
>> "Well, I'm not protesting, I'm having a cup of coffee," I returned,
>> thinking that logic would convince Adkins to go back to his earlier
>> duties of guarding against serious terrorists.
>>
>>
>> Flipping his badge open, he said, "No, not with that shirt. You're
>> protesting and you have to go."
>>
>>
>> Beginning to get his drift, I said firmly, "Not before I finish my
>> coffee."
>>
>>
>> He insisted that I leave, but still not quite believing my ears, I
>> tried one more approach to reason.
>>
>>
>> "Hey, listen. I'm a veteran. This is a V.A. facility. I'm sitting here
>> not talking to anybody, having a cup of coffee. I'm not protesting and
>> you can't kick me out."
>>
>>
>> "You'll either go or we'll arrest you," Adkins threatened.
>>
>>
>> "Well, you'll just have to arrest me," I said, wondering what strange
>> land I was now living in.
>>
>>
>> You know the rest.
>>
>>
>> Handcuffed, led away to the facility's security office past people with
>> surprised looks on their faces, read my rights, searched, and written
>> up.
>>
>>
>> The officer who did the formalities, Eric Ousley, was professional in
>> his duties.
>>
>>
>> When I asked him if he was a vet, it turned out he had been a hospital
>> corpsman in the Navy.
>>
>>
>> We exchanged a couple sea stories.
>>
>>
>> He uncuffed me early.
>>
>>
>> And he allowed as to how he would only charge me with disorderly
>> conduct, letting me go on charges of criminal trespass and weapons
>> possession -- a pocket knife -- which he said would have to be
>> destroyed (something I rather doubt since it was a nifty Swiss Army
>> knife with not only a bottle opener, but a tweezers and a toothpick).
>>
>>
>> After informing me I could either pay the $275 fine on the citation or
>> appear in court, Ousley escorted me off the premises, warning me if I
>> returned with "that shirt" on, I'd be arrested and booked into jail.
>>
>>
>> I'm sure I could go back to officers Adkins' and Ousleys' fiefdom with
>> a shirt that said, "Nuke all the hajis," or "Show us your tits," or any
>> number of truly obscene things and no one would care.
>>
>>
>> Just so it's not "that shirt" again.
>>
>>
>> And just for the record?
>>
>>
>> I'm not paying the fine.
>>
>>
>> I'll see Adkins and Ousley and Dubya's Director of the Dept. of
>> Veterans Affairs, if he wants to show up, in United States District
>> Court on the appointed date.
>>
>>
>> And if there's a Chicago area attorney who'd like to take the case, I'd
>> really like to sue them -- from Dubya on down.
>>
>>
>> I have to believe that this whole country has not yet gone insane, just
>> the government.
>>
>>
>> This kind of behavior can't be tolerated. It must be challenged.
>>
>>
>> Mike Ferner served as a Navy corpsman during Vietnam and is obviously a
>> member of Veterans For Peace.
>>
>>
>> __________________________________________________________
>>
>>
>> Speaking out against a fascist regime.
>>
>>
>> Harry
>> (see all of Harry Hope's excellent posts as they break, put this link
>> in your browser, use it, this is a search on google groups, on the
>> author Harry Hope sorted by date... nothing fancy):
>> http://groups.google.com/groups?q=&start=0&scoring=d&enc_author=-nIhF...
>>
>>
>> With history moving so fast these days you might also want to sort
>> Harry Hope's posts by "relevance" particulary if the lies and
>> misdirection that we are all being sujected to by the extensive Bush
>> Crime Family Propagand machine are confusing you. Using the "sort by
>> relevance" option has a way of letting you take in the big picture.
>> http://groups.google.com/groups?q=&start=0&enc_author=-nIhFBQAAACtBOU...
>>
>>
>>
>

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont  kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the shit out of you
for torturing the cat."  Gunner