ET TU, CAMBRIDGE? Since when are antiwar protesters herded into a specially designated pit area in the People's Republic of Cambridge? Since yesterday, apparently. Police arrested seven people at an event on Cambridge Common to celebrate the 230th anniversary of the US Army. (Globe coverage here; Herald coverage here.)
According to the ACLU of Massachusetts, the trouble began when Cambridge authorities decided not to let protesters exercise their free-speech rights unless they agreed to move to a pit away from the main event - reminiscent of the pen set up at last summer's Democratic National Convention, outside the FleetCenter.
Here's an excerpt from a news release (PDF) put out yesterday by the ACLU:
Organizers announced in advance that anyone wishing to question the event or U.S. policy in Iraq would be asked to confine their activities to a small area at a far corner of the Cambridge Common behind a row of Jersey barriers in a so-called "free speech area." ACLU attorneys warned city lawyers late Monday that forcing people into this "pen" because they had signs or leaflets deemed to constitute protest messages would be unconstitutional and the city could be held liable to those herded into the zone.
Here's an account on the Boston Indymedia site by one of the protesters. While I certainly don't condone the comparison of the United States to the "Third Reich," this is a comprehensive, if one-sided, description of what happened.
IRONIC CONCLUSION. Last fall, WBUR general manager Jane Christo's announcement that she intended to sell the public radio station's Rhode Island outlet, WRNI, set off a chain of events that very quickly led to her resignation.
Now the new management at 'BUR has decided to hold onto its Rhode Island station. Ian Donnis, of the Providence Phoenix, reported yesterday that though this appears to be good news, local activists remain skeptical.
The Providence Journal has a detailed update today.
6 comments:
Schiavo Autopsy Vindicates Husband; Will Wing-Nuts Apologize Now or Later?.
To the surprise of nobody in the reality-based community, the Florida coroner who performed the autopsy on Terry Schiavo found that she indeed suffered irreversible brain injury and was in a permanent vegetative state:
Her brain was profoundly atrophied," Jon Thogmartin, medical examiner for Florida's Pinellas-Pasco County, told a press conference. "There was massive neuronal loss, or death. This was irreversible and no amount of therapy or treatment would have regenerated the massive loss of neurons."
“The brain weighed 615 grams, roughly half of the expected weight of a human brain," he added.
Oh, yeah, and she was blind, too.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8225637
The coroner also determined that removal of her feeding tube would have resulted in her death whether she was fed or hydrated by mouth or not.
He also concluded there was absolutely no evidence of any abuse whatsoever by Michael Schiavo.
So where are all the wing-nuts lining-up to apoloogize to Michael Schiavo, the American people and the many families they terrorized outside the Florida hospice?
Bill O'Reilly? Rush Limbaugh? Sean Hannity?
Are the flat-earth fundamentalists and religious primitives going to hold a press conference demanding that Congress pass a law compensating Michael Schiavo, Florida taxpayers and other victims of their fascistic intimidation tactics?
How 'bout it Joe Scarborough? Tom Delay? Randall Terry? Sam Brownback? George W. Bush?
How many of them will even have the courage to admit they were wrong?
None of them will, of course, because the wackos who tried to intimidate America with their bounties to kill Michael Schiavo and the presiding judge are worthless cowards and scum. The preacher (and his ilk) who kicked the presideing judge out of his church are the moral equivalent of the Taliban.
Thank you, Jesus, for giving Michael Schiavo the strength and courage to prevail. Praise God for the medical professionals who dutifully respected Terri Schiavo's wishes and allowed her, finally, to die with dignity.
re: Cambridge demonstration
referring to a "see" of demonstrators or calling soldiers "cannon foder" probably validates opinion of those who think pedantic activists should precede demonstating what they have learned with actually learning something..
Cambridge
Sorry to see this, but not sure there's anything except virtual phoniness capable of exciting today's youth.
The lack of respect given language and its idioms is depressing.
Sighs,
No truer adage than "The fish always sinks from the head."
Just heard the weather lady give the report for London, Germany.
Careless tongues come from sloppy thoughts.
The First Amendment gives you the right to speak freely without fear of reprisal, but it doesn't mean you have a right to say it anywhere you damn please. If Jews hold a memorial service for the millions of victims of the Holocaust and skinheads show up to protest, it is unreasonable to assert that the latter have the right to occupy the "same space" as the former.
The ACLU often has laudable goals, but tend to be a bit simplistic - in this case they forget that the people there to celebrate the anniversary of the Army have 1st Amendment rights as well.
To paraphrase Holmes, my right to shout in protest stops at the point at which it substantially interferes with the speech of the people I'm protesting.
I saw a news report. They were SCREAMING during the wreath laying ceremony. I mean, come on.
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