Flutterby™! : "protect our civil liberties" labeled "obscene" 2004-10-21 19:25:30.726765+00

"protect our civil liberties" labeled "obscene"

2004-10-21 19:25:30.726765+00 by Dan Lyke 10 comments

Three Medford Oregon school teachers thrown out of a Bush Rally for wearing "Protect our civil liberties" T-shirts (thanks to Medley):

The women got past the first and second checkpoints and were allowed into the Jackson County fairgrounds, but were asked to leave and then escorted out of the event by campaign officials who allegedly told them their T-shirts were "obscene."

You know what's really disturbing about this? That the other viable option in this election is probably as bad, as back in the '90s John Ashcroft criticized John Kerry for his stances against civil liberties, and the Kerry Campaign goes even further:

John Kerry stands by his vote for the Patriot Act. In fact, he authored most of the money laundering provisions in the law.

While I haven't gotten quite as disgusted with Kerry as Larry is, I believe that this is an election between shades of awful, and as some of the Bush supporters blather about some of his alleged "strengths" I'm almost ready to say "fuck it, give him another four years and that way they won't be able to blame the resulting disaster on the Democrats". Almost, but not quite.

I've been in denial over Kerry. I really, really want to vote for Nader. I actually like his platform. But I know that a vote for Nader is potentially a vote for Bush. And I think I would be happy with that if Bush would just promise not to invade any more countries and just spend more time playing golf.

I opened a checking account to day - they wanted to know how long I had lived in my house (for the patriot act) . I told her it was none of their business -the computer had to have an answer -- I said 'zero' years -- the computer would not take it -- I said 'one' - it was happy. I told her the act was 'wrong' - that knowing how long I lived there was not going to stop anything - I had no diaper on my head - she said the Oklahoma bomber didn't have a head dress - I said 'that was for a different reason' -

THIS WAS FROM A BANKER LADY -- MY GOD - who the fuck is this woman - who are they?

Is the government of free people? I said before they should declare war if thay want to act this way so a clear line is drawn between an emrgency (time of war) and peacetime - the way it is they have thrown away our freedoms

#Comment Re: made: 2004-10-22 11:33:04.079508+00 by: meuon [edit history]

Suntrust wanted fingerprints..(thumbprint actually) on my signature card. Not sure what they do with them, but as many times as I had been fingerprinted, I laughed and said 'Ok'. I'm suprised they don't take photo's and have a computer system that pops up your photo on the screen when you are doing business with a teller.

In Cryptonomicron by Neil Stephenson there was a group of geekish guys that went around very heavily armed publically, because they could legally. They were exercising their civil liberties. Maybe we should start doing similiar things, exercising our civil liberties. Anyone know a good bail bondsmen and lawyer?

Then this is really odd... I opened a corporate checking account with BofA on-line about 3 months ago. I expected that I would do the data entry for them and then show up at the bank to do the corporate seal, signature cards, business license, articles of incorporation, etc...

I got a phone call the next day telling me what the account number was. I was floored... I asked about signature cards, etc... and they said they'd mail all that out. They did mention that they would limit outbound wire transfers to $100,000 for 90 days.

We had no relationship with BofA before this. Perhaps the difference is on personal accounts?

The Patriot Act and the shades of awful is exactly why I've decided to cast my vote for Badnarik. My only hope is that the LP gets enough votes here to cost somebody the election.

My real hope is that the infringements on our rights will go far enough as to become intolerable. Sad to say, I don't think either candidate is that horrible.

#Comment Re: made: 2004-10-22 14:59:56.082869+00 by: Mark A. Hershberger

I've never thought Kerry was better than Bush re: civil liberties. My only hope is to switch presidents so as to make the person in the presidency less effective at eroding rights. Hopefully with a Republican Congress and a Democratic President there would be less movement in that direction.

Lame duck presidents can be quite effective at being ineffective. This is good when the world climate gets crazy. The real prize for the next president, however, is the 1-4 Supreme Court seats that will be vacated during the next term. And this has a greater impact on civil liberties than anything else a President can do!

I miss Ayn Rand - her insight was luminating, so it's a treat to find new insight - here it is:

The truth is they want to destroy what America is; and in my opinion, the Republicans are destroying it while they try to save it.

Fortunately, when I read the opinions of Supreme Court justices, I am pleasantly surprised at how seriously they take the job of interpreting the Constitution. I can undestand the points of view of each justice, even when I disagree. They seem much more dispassionate than Bush.

I agree with ziffle (must be a first ;) that both candidates are focused on destroying some vision of America. I'd say that the Democrats are more focused on destroying the capitalistic economy than the republicans, while the republicans are focused on destroying our civil liberties and the rest of the world. Of course, that's a flawed statement as Kerry authored significant portions of the Patriot Act.

But I really don't blame the candidates. After all, they are a product of the populace that votes for them and the two-party system that limits our real choices.

I vote for a triumvirate made up of the top three candidates! Or at least, the winning presidential candidate has to take the first runner-up as his Vice President! I also think that the candidates should choose their cabinet members before the election. This would really tell the story of what the candidate plans to do. The only thing Bush seemed to do right was get a strong cabinet behind him. Unfortunately, he refused to listen to the critics among the cabinet members.

Looks like it was tried and found to lead to too much gridlock (even for Jefferson!). Nice thought that the 12^th Amendment could be repealed though.