September 26, 2005

False arrest or miscarriage of justice?



...but Cindy Sheehan is being arrested!


8 comments:

The probligo said...

How about "Choreographed Publicity Stunt"?

Al S. E. said...

I would use the word "synchronized" instead of "choreographed," Probligo. While Cindy Sheehan is busy protesting Bush's War with every possible peaceful means at her disposal, Dubya is busy squeezing every last possible drop of publicity out of hurricane Rita.

Snipaw said...

It is nice to see that she is getting the attentiont she deserves. Actually I think she is milking her 15 minutes as much as she can.

Unknown said...

I cant even bring myself to say what i think! You guys would hate me. Nic pics though even though u guys are wrong....

Al S. E. said...

That's a cop-out, Dorothy. No-one will "hate" you if you state a reasoned position based on facts and logic (and, preferably, free of government propaganda). Just saying someone is wrong doesn't make them wrong.

Mauser*Girl said...

I don't think this was a false arrest at all.

Washington, DC police have had to change a lot of their rules because they've been accused of false arrests and such in the past. They now have to display their badge numbers at all times and they have very strict guidelines as to when they can bring out and put on their riot gear. Okay, I agree with the badge number thing. The shame is, if protests were really peaceful, this would not be a problem. But you have people aggravating police and doing nasty things like throwing marbles under the hooves of police horses so that they fall. But when police steps in, they are accused of police brutality.

But that is sort of off topic. Cindy Sheehan and many other people were arrested because they did not have a permit to protest in front of the White House. She was also arrested for not having a permit in other locations, including New York City. You would think she had learned from those times, or at least that the crowds who gather with her would have learned.

I have not yet heard of anyone being denied a permit to stage a protest, nor is it very hard to get a permit.

Therefore I think that it was fair she was arrested. Police warned the protesters several times that they would start arresting them because they were protesting without a permit. When they didn't comply, people were arrested, booked, given court dates, and released. As all people went peacefully, I don't see the problem. Police acted like they should, the protesters came peacefully. It's the way things are supposed to be handled.

On the other hand, of course, you had idiots like the guy who climbed the fence onto White House grounds. *That* is a felony, called Criminal Trespass, and I hope that they are going to prosecute him for it.

Al S. E. said...

And I hope "they" prosecute Bush for having destroyed Iraq and for having killed over 100,000 people, not to speak of having lied about every aspect of the whole thing. But I guess Mauser Girl's wish is much more likely to be realized than mine, as the powers that be tend to prosecute and persecute people who protest against injustice, and not the ones who commit injustice.

Al S. E. said...

I would argue that a war crime is far more serious than treason. Treason is a crime against a single nation. A war crime is a crime against humanity. In fact, the Bush Administration's criminality has created a new category of crime. The traditional run-of-the-mill war criminal was loyal to his/her own nation. This bunch are war criminals who have simultaneously committed treason against their own nation.