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

["McGinnn" <McGinnn@xxxxxxxxx>]

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...