two entries from the "this is so wrong" file

[cellio]

Item 1: A man mimicking the Abu Ghraib prisoner on the box outside an army recruitment office (silent, peaceful protest) was arrested and charged with two felonies -- because those wires and the milk crate he was standing on were obviously a bomb threat, don't'cha know. Sheesh. (Link from roozle.)

Item 2: Bush campaign tries to enlist religious congregations for help (link from caryabend). I hope they tell the campaign to stuff it and stop meddling in non-partisan religious organizations. Or better yet, I hope they just tell their congregants it happened, with no further comment.

(Item 3 (meta): this build is sure taking a long time.)

Comments

Re: item 1

[jducoeur]

While I agree that this is the *reason* he was arrested, I don't think it justifies the arrest, especially a full six weeks before the convention. Again, this crosses the line between justifiable caution and unconstitutional paranoia.

Almost *any* sort of public speech can be viewed as somehow infringing on "security" if you slant it right. That doesn't justify doing so. The entire point of how the US is constructed is to say that free speech, and *especially* criticism of the government, are more important than most other concerns. That's why the first amendment comes first...