CINCINNATI (TDB) -- With all likelihood of real impeachment proceedings bottled up in the House by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leadership, a group in New York has begun exploring the case against President Bush and Vice President Cheney by staging a mock trial. They are making videos of each separate charge and Article 1: Initiation and Continuation of Illegal War is now available online here.
Tomorrow night, Nov. 26, The Culture Project continues its six-week presentation with Impeachment Article 2: Torture and Extraordinary Rendition. A New York blog, Gothamist, notes the first segment that has been posted online includes New Yorker writer Hendrik Hertzberg and Ray McGovern, a retired CIA analyst who appeared as a witness against the Bush administration in the mock trial. Over the course of the trial, former military officials, journalists, academics, actors, and retired government officials will make presentations in the series, which is called A Question of Impeachment. Former CIA insider Ray McGovern is a bona fide intelligence expert, as Gothamist pointed out:
"McGovern chaired the National Intelligence Estimate for many years and produced the President's Daily Brief under Nixon, Ford and Reagan. The morning PDB is a one-page breakdown of the most urgent recent intelligence gathered by the CIA; one such PDB was famously shrugged off by Bush in August 2001 - it was titled 'Bin Laden determined to attack inside the U.S.'"
Showing posts with label Impeach Bush. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Impeach Bush. Show all posts
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Ohio Peace Activist's Free Speech Fight: Cops Removed His 'Impeach Bush' Sign
CINCINNATI (TDB) -- A few years ago, a federal appeals court in Ohio ruled an anti-abortion protester's Free Speech rights were infringed when he was arrested for carrying a placard displaying a fetus while strolling during an Akron suburb's Memorial Day parade. And last month, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Cincinnati wrongly arrested an abortion protester for trespassing near a clinic as he tried to stop a woman from entering.
Free speech guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution saved both men from criminal prosecution. Now there is another case that will make history from Ohio -- a Kent police officer ticketed an anti-war protester last month for putting an "Impeach Bush" sign in a public garden. The case is making its journey through the legal system and the first stop is in the Portage County Municipal Court. At the heart of this matter is this question: Can signs espousing political causes be erected in public places; does their removal amount to government censorship? It is a very close call.
Protests and protest signs have been part of the landscape in Washington's LaFayette Park across from the White House for year now. They are one of the city's tourist stops.
And anti-abortion protesters, for example, have been granted latitude to display protest signs along public sidewalks near Planned Parenthood clinics. Groups rent stadiums and convention halls built with public funds all the time, then use them for rallies where they proclaim support for all kids of causes. Years ago in Cincinnati, Ronald Reagan's 1986 campaign committee was sanctioned by a court for blocking protesters who wanted to carry anti-Reagan signs to a GOP rally on Fountain Square. And Cincinnati has been prohibited from refusing to grant a permit to the KKK, which wanted to place a cross -- its symbol of racial hatred -- on the same square in the heart of downtown. There's more: The Supreme Court has ruled that newsstands can't be stopped from being placed on city streets.
Kevin Egler, who wants Bush impeached, says he has been putting anti-war messages all around Ohio and neighboring states since October. Egler told Plain Dealer reporter James Ewinger that the cop who gave him a ticket July 25 in Kent remarked: "Why don't you put the signs in your own yard?"
If Egler is ever in this neighborhood, he's weclome to drop by with one of his signs. Perhaps his call for impeaching the president is a little extreme. But the guy is right to stick up for Free Speech. If Bush had any sense he'd invite him to the White House and stick one of the signs out on the lawn. It would show the whole world what this country stands for -- that every citizen has the right to speak his mind and nobody is afraid of that.
Free speech guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution saved both men from criminal prosecution. Now there is another case that will make history from Ohio -- a Kent police officer ticketed an anti-war protester last month for putting an "Impeach Bush" sign in a public garden. The case is making its journey through the legal system and the first stop is in the Portage County Municipal Court. At the heart of this matter is this question: Can signs espousing political causes be erected in public places; does their removal amount to government censorship? It is a very close call.
Protests and protest signs have been part of the landscape in Washington's LaFayette Park across from the White House for year now. They are one of the city's tourist stops.
And anti-abortion protesters, for example, have been granted latitude to display protest signs along public sidewalks near Planned Parenthood clinics. Groups rent stadiums and convention halls built with public funds all the time, then use them for rallies where they proclaim support for all kids of causes. Years ago in Cincinnati, Ronald Reagan's 1986 campaign committee was sanctioned by a court for blocking protesters who wanted to carry anti-Reagan signs to a GOP rally on Fountain Square. And Cincinnati has been prohibited from refusing to grant a permit to the KKK, which wanted to place a cross -- its symbol of racial hatred -- on the same square in the heart of downtown. There's more: The Supreme Court has ruled that newsstands can't be stopped from being placed on city streets.
Kevin Egler, who wants Bush impeached, says he has been putting anti-war messages all around Ohio and neighboring states since October. Egler told Plain Dealer reporter James Ewinger that the cop who gave him a ticket July 25 in Kent remarked: "Why don't you put the signs in your own yard?"
If Egler is ever in this neighborhood, he's weclome to drop by with one of his signs. Perhaps his call for impeaching the president is a little extreme. But the guy is right to stick up for Free Speech. If Bush had any sense he'd invite him to the White House and stick one of the signs out on the lawn. It would show the whole world what this country stands for -- that every citizen has the right to speak his mind and nobody is afraid of that.
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