Activist Cindy Sheehan Arrested at Capitol

[MrFun]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
Which the USA is, regardless of ACS line-of-thought.

I will be able to sleep better at night, Slowwy, if you just kept to patrolling the border with Mexico instead of posting nonsense on Apolyton.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui


You mean right-wing continent

right-wing continent


Ted Striker

[SlowwHand]

Nonsense? How else do you explain Bush winning 2 elections?

However, I will also continue patrolling the border.

[Richelieu]

Hw only won the second one.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
Nonsense? How else do you explain Bush winning 2 elections?

How do you explain Clinton winning 2 elections?

[Harry Tuttle]

Originally posted by Richelieu
Hw only won the second one.

So he can run again in 2008?!?!

AWESOME!

[Winston]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
How do you explain Clinton winning 2 elections?

Women's suffrage.

[Koyaanisqatsi]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11120353/

“We screwed up,” a top Capitol Police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

He said Sheehan didn't violate any rules or laws.

[Drake Tungsten]

Originally posted by Ted Striker
I thought the meeting with Chavez was brilliant.

Of course, you also think that having a George Galloway avatar is still cool...

[DRoseDARs]

Koy beat me to it, but here's a different article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060201/ap_on_go_co/state_of_union_sheehan

Police Apologize, Drop Charge Vs. Sheehan

By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer 11 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Capitol Police dropped a charge of unlawful conduct against anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan on Wednesday and apologized for ejecting her and a congressman's wife from
President Bush's State of the Union address for wearing T-shirts with war messages.

"The officers made a good faith, but mistaken effort to enforce an old unwritten interpretation of the prohibitions about demonstrating in the Capitol," Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer said in a statement late Wednesday.

"The policy and procedures were too vague," he added. "The failure to adequately prepare the officers is mine."

The extraordinary statement came a day after police removed Sheehan and Beverly Young, wife of Rep. C.W. "Bill" Young, R-Fla., from the visitors gallery Tuesday night. Sheehan was taken away in handcuffs before Bush's arrival at the Capitol and charged with a misdemeanor, while Young left the gallery and therefore was not arrested, Gainer said.

"Neither guest should have been confronted about the expressive T-shirts," Gainer's statement said.

Gainer added that he was asking the U.S. attorney's office to drop the charge against Sheehan. The statement also said he apologized to the Youngs and "share the department's plans for avoiding this in the future."

"A similar message has been left with Mrs. Sheehan," Gainer said.

For his part, Bill Young said he was not necessarily satisfied.

"My wife was humiliated," he told reporters. He suggested that "sensitivity training" may be in order for Capitol Police.

A foreign-born American citizen who was the guest of Rep. Alcee Hastings (news, bio, voting record), D-Fla., also was taken by police from the gallery just above the House floor, Hastings said Wednesday.

The congressman met with Gainer and said he also requested a meeting with House Speaker
Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., about the incident.

"I'd like to find out more information," Hastings said in an interview, identifying the man only as being from Broward County in Florida. "He is a constituent of mine. I invited him proudly."

Sheehan's T-shirt alluded to the number of soldiers killed in
Iraq: "2245 Dead. How many more?" Capitol Police charged her with a misdemeanor for violating the District of Columbia's code against unlawful or disruptive conduct on any part of the Capitol grounds, a law enforcement official said. She was released from custody and flew home Wednesday to Los Angeles.

Young's shirt had just the opposite message: "Support the Troops — Defending Our Freedom."

The two women appeared to have offended tradition if not the law, according to several law enforcement and congressional officials. By custom, the annual address is to be a dignified affair in which the president reports on the state of the nation. Guests in the gallery who wear shirts deemed political in nature have, in past years, been asked to change or cover them up.

Rules dealing mainly with what people can bring and telling them to refrain from reading, writing, smoking, eating, drinking, applauding or taking photographs are outlined on the back of gallery passes given to tourists every day.

However, State of the Union guests don't receive any guidelines, Hanley said. "You would assume that if you were coming to an event like the State of the Union address you would be dressed in appropriate attire," she said.

___

Associated Press writer Liz Sidoti contributed to this report.

"Good faith" effort my ass.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Sikander

Her 1st amendment rights are weak in comparison with the myriad conflicting rights and obligations of the president giving the state of the union address to congress. She violated the dress code and was attempting to demonstrate on the floor of the congress during the speech. If that's legal we'll never see congress pass another bill again in our lifetimes.

That's pretty week. Does wearing a t-shirt prevent Bush from giving his speech? Would he even see it? This rule is designed for one specifici purpose and that is to silence the opposition and that is never a good thing is a democracy.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Harry Tuttle

In a greater sense, she can be seen as threat to the safety of those in the chamber, especially the president. This woman is no simple dissenter or protester, she's more of a stalker with intent to harm.

Harry seems to have lost his grip on reality. I hope you get better, buddy.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by DRoseDARs
Cindy Sheehan, who was the guest of a Congressman, wore a simple t-shirt showing the current number (at the time it was printed) of dead US soldiers in Iraq. While inside the Capital, she offered no resistance, she never yelled or chanted anything. Her conduct was appropriate. Her removal was outrageous, not the t-shirt, which is a perfect example of her First Amendment right and its trampling.

I'm not a big supporter of Sheehan and I honestly do wish she'd go away but she most certainly does have the right to say it. Being arrested for wearing a simple t-shirt just because people in power don't like the number printed on it is not freedom and it isn't right.

[Gibsie]

I thought it was awful enough when an old man got chucked out of a Labour conference for shouting "Nonsense", but at least he wasn't sent to jail for it.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Ming
Yep... the repugs played right into her hands.

House police, not the GOP. Let's place blame where blame is due. Also, they removed a Congressman's wife for wearing something indicating support of the Prez, so it's not like they were just silencing the left.