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Gandalf Grey
Guest
Lawsuit exposes Bush's hypocrisy
By Ed Tant
Created Sep 1 2007 - 10:30am
"These are the times that try men's souls," said American revolutionary
patriot and pamphleteer Thomas Paine in 1776 as England's King George ruled
this burgeoning nation. Today, these are the times when it is good to be "a
card-carrying member of the ACLU" as another ruler named George tries the
souls and patience of this nation's citizens who are wary and weary of the
Bush administration.
Within the past few days, two big rats have left the sinking ship of the
Bush/Cheney crew. The resignations of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and
top Bush henchman Karl Rove were good news for citizens aghast at a leaking.
The American Civil Liberties Union had a large watchdog role in monitoring
and challenging the political predations of Gonzales, Rove and the rest of
the current White House regime. Founded in 1920 as a needed response to the
civil liberties encroachments of Democrat Woodrow Wilson's administration
during the infamous "Red Scare" after World War I, when thousands of
Americans and foreign-born radicals were jailed for their beliefs and
affiliations, the ACLU today is in the forefront of the struggle to rescue
this nation from the current White House crew.
During the Clinton administration, the ACLU proved the adage that politics
makes strange bedfellows when it held news conferences with the National
Rifle Association to defend the Second Amendment and decry the increasing
militarization of state and federal police forces. When George H.W. Bush,
ran for the White House in 1988, he echoed Red-baiting Sen. Joe McCarthy to
slam his opponent, Michael Dukakis, as "a card-carrying member of the ACLU."
Two weeks ago, the ACLU once again won what it called "a victory for free
speech" when it's lawyers successfully defended a young couple who had been
arrested and jailed for two hours for wearing T-shirts with anti-Bush
messages to a Bush speech in Charleston, W.Va. on July 4, 2004. Jeff Rank's
shirt bore the message "Regime change starts at home" and wife Nicole's
shirt bore the slogan, "Love America, Hate Bush."
Both were peaceful and made no attempt to disrupt Bush's speech, but they
were arrested, fingerprinted and jailed even as Bush told a cheering crowd
of supporters that "we confirm our love of freedom, the freedom for people
to speak their minds." As the Ranks were being arrested, the president was
calling America "a reliable friend of any dissident or political prisoner
who dreams of justice."
Not so fast, Mr. President. The ACLU's lawsuit on behalf of the Ranks
exposed the Presidential Advance Manual of October 2002 that was dedicated
to the proposition that America's own "King George" must be shielded from
the opinions of all but his fawning supporters.
The manual called for "deterring potential protesters from attending events"
and for "rally squads" of "Young Republican organizations, local athletic
teams, and fraternities/sororities" to act as Bush League Brownshirts by
drowning out voices of protest with the mindless "USA! USA!" chant.
The Ranks won a whopping $80,000 and the Bush regime's true tactics were
exposed with the publication of the Presidential Advance Manual. ACLU
attorney Chris Hansen was right when he said, "When taxpayers foot the bill
for a public event, the president does not have the right to use a partisan
litmus test to stack the audience with his political supporters."
If you can't stand the heat, get out of the White House, Mr. President!
_______
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson
By Ed Tant
Created Sep 1 2007 - 10:30am
"These are the times that try men's souls," said American revolutionary
patriot and pamphleteer Thomas Paine in 1776 as England's King George ruled
this burgeoning nation. Today, these are the times when it is good to be "a
card-carrying member of the ACLU" as another ruler named George tries the
souls and patience of this nation's citizens who are wary and weary of the
Bush administration.
Within the past few days, two big rats have left the sinking ship of the
Bush/Cheney crew. The resignations of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and
top Bush henchman Karl Rove were good news for citizens aghast at a leaking.
The American Civil Liberties Union had a large watchdog role in monitoring
and challenging the political predations of Gonzales, Rove and the rest of
the current White House regime. Founded in 1920 as a needed response to the
civil liberties encroachments of Democrat Woodrow Wilson's administration
during the infamous "Red Scare" after World War I, when thousands of
Americans and foreign-born radicals were jailed for their beliefs and
affiliations, the ACLU today is in the forefront of the struggle to rescue
this nation from the current White House crew.
During the Clinton administration, the ACLU proved the adage that politics
makes strange bedfellows when it held news conferences with the National
Rifle Association to defend the Second Amendment and decry the increasing
militarization of state and federal police forces. When George H.W. Bush,
ran for the White House in 1988, he echoed Red-baiting Sen. Joe McCarthy to
slam his opponent, Michael Dukakis, as "a card-carrying member of the ACLU."
Two weeks ago, the ACLU once again won what it called "a victory for free
speech" when it's lawyers successfully defended a young couple who had been
arrested and jailed for two hours for wearing T-shirts with anti-Bush
messages to a Bush speech in Charleston, W.Va. on July 4, 2004. Jeff Rank's
shirt bore the message "Regime change starts at home" and wife Nicole's
shirt bore the slogan, "Love America, Hate Bush."
Both were peaceful and made no attempt to disrupt Bush's speech, but they
were arrested, fingerprinted and jailed even as Bush told a cheering crowd
of supporters that "we confirm our love of freedom, the freedom for people
to speak their minds." As the Ranks were being arrested, the president was
calling America "a reliable friend of any dissident or political prisoner
who dreams of justice."
Not so fast, Mr. President. The ACLU's lawsuit on behalf of the Ranks
exposed the Presidential Advance Manual of October 2002 that was dedicated
to the proposition that America's own "King George" must be shielded from
the opinions of all but his fawning supporters.
The manual called for "deterring potential protesters from attending events"
and for "rally squads" of "Young Republican organizations, local athletic
teams, and fraternities/sororities" to act as Bush League Brownshirts by
drowning out voices of protest with the mindless "USA! USA!" chant.
The Ranks won a whopping $80,000 and the Bush regime's true tactics were
exposed with the publication of the Presidential Advance Manual. ACLU
attorney Chris Hansen was right when he said, "When taxpayers foot the bill
for a public event, the president does not have the right to use a partisan
litmus test to stack the audience with his political supporters."
If you can't stand the heat, get out of the White House, Mr. President!
_______
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson
