Cindy Sheehan arrested

[The Toecutter]

I don't know how many of you knew, but there's been a protest in Washington D.C. against the war in Iraq. At least 100,000 people showed up, but many are saying it was around 300,000, almost as much as at the Republican National Convention.

Cindy Sheehan was then arrested for protesting without a permit. Nevermind what the 1st amendment says about that. Sure, she broke the law, but that particular law in question is also illegal if the constitution and all its bindings are supposed to be the supreme law of the land.

In any event, she is not being harshly punished, and her arrest is likely to galvanize the anti-war sentiment yet more.

http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/26/19444/3681

My First Time

by CindySheehan
Mon Sep 26th, 2005 at 16:04:44 PDT

The rumors are true this time. I was arrested in front of the White House today. It was my first time ever being arrested.

* CindySheehan's diary :: ::
*

We proceeded from Lafayette Park to the Guard House at the White House. I, my sister, and other Gold Star Families for Peace members and some Military Families requested to meet with the President again. We again wanted to know: What is the Noble Cause? Our request was, to our immense shock and surprise, denied. They wouldn't even deliver any letters or pictures of our killed loved ones to the White House.

We all know by now why George won't meet with parents of the soldiers he has killed who disagree with him. First of all, he hates it when people disagree with him. I am not so sure he hates it as much as he is in denial that it even happens. Secondly, he is a coward who arrogantly refuses to meet with the people who pay his salary. Maybe the next time one of us is asked by our bosses to have a performance review, or we are going to be written up for a workplace infraction, we should refuse to go and talk to our bosses sighting the fact that the President doesn't have to. The third reason why he won't talk to us is the he knows there is no Noble Cause for the invasion and continued occupation of Iraq. It is a question that has no true answer.

After we were refused a meeting with the Disconnected One, we went over to right in front of our house...the White House (behind the gate of course) and we sat down and refused to move until George came out and talked to us. We actually had a good time singing old church songs and old protest songs while we waited. I tied a picture of Casey on the White House fence and apparently, that is against the law, too.

After three warnings to get up and move off of the sidewalk in front of our house, we were arrested. It is so ironic to me that the person who resides in our White House swears to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. The person who is the (p)resident of the White House now has no concept of the Constitution. He was appointed by the Supreme Court for his first term, invaded and continues to occupy a sovereign country without a declaration of war from the Congress, and violated several treaties to actually invade, Iraq too. Not to mention the condoned torture that pervades the military prisons these days. These are all violations of the Constitution. The Patriot Act and denying us our rights to peaceably assemble are serious breaches of the Bill of Rights. George is so concerned about Iraq developing a Constitution and he ignores and shreds our own Constitution.

Being arrested is not a big deal. We were arrested for "demonstrating without a permit." We were protesting something that is much more serious than sitting on a sidewalk: the tragic and needless deaths of tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis and Americans (both in Iraq and here in America) who would be alive if it weren't for the criminals who reside in and work in the White House.

Karl Rove (besides just being a very creepy man) outted a CIA agent and was responsible for endangering many of our covert agents worldwide. Dick Cheney's old company is reaping profits beyond anyone's wildest imaginations in their no-bid contracts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and New Orleans. John Negroponte's activities in South America are very shady and murderous. Rumsfeld and Gonzales are responsible for illegal and immoral authorization, encouragement and approval of torture. Not to mention, violating Geneva Conventions, torture endangers the lives of our service men and women in Iraq. Along with the above mentioned traitors, Condi lied through her teeth in the insane run-up to the invasion. The list of crimes is extensive, abhorrent, and unbelievable. What is so unbelievable is that we were arrested for exercising our first amendment rights and these people are running free to enjoy their lives and wreak havoc on the world.

The fine for Demonstrating Without a Permit is $75.00. I am certain that I won't pay it. My court date is November 16th. Any lawyers out there want to help me challenge an unconstitutional law??

[Thief of Dreams]

Re: Cindy Sheehan arrested

actually she was the first of many that were arrested for sitting down on the sidewalk creating and obstruction, and refusing to move after being asked 3 times.


here is the news article that is, you know, not written by the person who thinks they did nothing wrong

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9493139/



Updated: 5:47 p.m. ET Sept. 26, 2005

WASHINGTON - Cindy Sheehan, the California woman who has used her son’s death in Iraq to spur the antiwar movement, was arrested Monday while protesting outside the White House.

Sheehan and several dozen other protesters sat down on the sidewalk after marching along the pedestrian walkway on Pennsylvania Avenue. Police warned them three times that they were breaking the law by failing to move along, then began making arrests.

Sheehan, 48, was the first taken into custody. She stood up and was handcuffed, then led to a police vehicle while protesters chanted, “The whole world is watching.”
Story continues below ↓ advertisement

Others who were arrested also cooperated with police. Sgt. Scott Fear, spokesman for the U.S. Park Police, said they would be charged with demonstrating without a permit, which is a misdemeanor.

Park Police Sgt. L.J. McNally said Sheehan and the others would be taken to a processing center where they would be fingerprinted and photographed, then given a ticket and released. The process would take several hours, he said.

Sheehan’s 24-year-old son, Casey, was killed in an ambush in Sadr City, Iraq, last year. She attracted worldwide attention last month with her 26-day vigil outside President Bush’s Texas ranch.

Several hundred protesters in D.C.
Sheehan was among several hundred demonstrators who marched around the White House on Monday and then stopped in front and began singing and chanting “Stop the war now!” Organizers had said some planned to be arrested.

The demonstration is part of a broader antiwar effort on Capitol Hill organized by United for Peace and Justice, an umbrella group. Representatives from antiwar groups were meeting Monday with members of Congress to urge them to work to end the war and bring home the troops.


The protest following a massive demonstration Saturday on the National Mall that drew a crowd of 100,000 or more, the largest such gathering in the capital since the war began in March 2003.

On Sunday, a rally supporting the war drew roughly 500 participants. Speakers included veterans of World War II and the war in Iraq, as well as family members of soldiers killed in Iraq.

“I would like to say to Cindy Sheehan and her supporters, ‘Don’t be a group of unthinking lemmings.’ It’s not pretty,” said Mitzy Kenny of Ridgeley, W.Va., whose husband died in Iraq last year. The antiwar demonstrations “can affect the war in a really negative way. It gives the enemy hope.”



yay for a unbiased report!

[Caciss]

Re: Cindy Sheehan arrested

I love you Theif.

[IRC]

Re: Cindy Sheehan arrested

Cindy Sheehan was then arrested for protesting without a permit. Nevermine what the 1st amendment says about that. Sure, she brokw the law, but that particular law in question is also illegal if the constitution and all its bindings are supposed to be the supreme law of the land.

Explain how you go from "the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances" to the above. I see no mention of permits; either for or against.


She broke the law. It's still the law. You can say that abortion is constitutional and you can say that abortion is unconstitutional. Because the Constitution was written as a purposely vague document that did very little except establish a strong federal government and convince the farmers of the cololnies that that was a good thing, it doesn't really say all that much. It's all in what your personal opinion is about how we should interpret the constitution. The first amendment grants the right to assemble and petition. Which you have. But there are rules and laws about when and where you can assemble. In this case the protestors didn't have a permit to protest. You can call the protest law unconstitutional all you want but that doesn't make it an illegal law.

I think it's obvious they wanted to get arrested so we shouldn't be shocked and appalled when she manages to get herself arrested. Plus they were just fingerprinted and given a ticket. There was no heinous torture, or atleast she hasn't claimed anything yet.



My suggestion, go back and get the protest permit and then go on a hunger strike as she waits outside the white house. It combines the her anti-war sentiment with the whole Terry Schiavo thing. Then we can start debating whether or not Cindy Sheehan has all the functioning in her brain.

[malaria]

Re: Cindy Sheehan arrested

quote: “I would like to say to Cindy Sheehan and her supporters, ‘Don’t be a group of unthinking lemmings.’ It’s not pretty,” said Mitzy Kenny of Ridgeley, W.Va., whose husband died in Iraq last year. The antiwar demonstrations “can affect the war in a really negative way. It gives the enemy hope.”


Protesters are terrorists. There is nothing more unpatriotic than disagreeing with our commanders.

[Valkysas]

Re: Cindy Sheehan arrested

... what?

[John Mora]

Re: Cindy Sheehan arrested

quote: “I would like to say to Cindy Sheehan and her supporters, ‘Don’t be a group of unthinking lemmings.’ It’s not pretty,” said Mitzy Kenny of Ridgeley, W.Va., whose husband died in Iraq last year. The antiwar demonstrations “can affect the war in a really negative way. It gives the enemy hope.”


Protesters are terrorists. There is nothing more unpatriotic than disagreeing with our commanders.

I'm assuming this is... sarcasm?

[malaria]

Re: Cindy Sheehan arrested

“I would like to say to Cindy Sheehan and her supporters, ‘Don’t be a group of unthinking lemmings.’ It’s not pretty,” said Mitzy Kenny of Ridgeley, W.Va., whose husband died in Iraq last year. The antiwar demonstrations “can affect the war in a really negative way. It gives the enemy hope.”

I get so angry when I read anything concerning the political climate we are living in. 1984, and a brave new world has nothing on us. I have no faith in our politictical process, policies and responsibilitys to the public. I have buried my head in the sand for the past few years concerning our president. even so, i still get so angry at how the american public is marketed to sway its opinions. I vote every chance i get. I have signed petitions. I feel in a way that we are reliving the cold war of the fiftys... instead of people being accused of being a communist.... the new term is terrorist. grrrrrrr.......

so very angry.....

[Nixon]

Re: Cindy Sheehan arrested

The fine for Demonstrating Without a Permit is $75.00

All political grumblings aside, that's just incredibly stupid. Does this apply to everyone nationwide? Where do you get a permit to protest?

[Snarf]

Re: Cindy Sheehan arrested

As far as her being arrested for not getting a permit thats fine. If she was in a place where she was blocking the way and was asked to move several time and didnt, she deserves whatever she gets (within the lines of decency and the law of course).

But it gripes my ass the way that people think that if you dont agree with the powers that be, you support terrorism. If you attend a rally against how things are being done, youre a terrorist.

And its just as bad on the other side. People say that those who drive SUVs or big trucks support the war. No...what that means is they drive a big vehicle.

Another very popular thing that ha been happening in this country as of late are people comparing everything to the Holocaust or Hitler.

STOP BEING SO ****ING DRAMATIC!

The only people in my opinon who have the right to compare anything to the Holocaust are the people who expeirenced it. No one here in America is facing systematic genocide and ethnic cleansing no matter how bad they want to think so.

Yeah, I think Bush is a version of a dictator but he is no where near Hitler standards. Hitler was very charsimatic, brilliant, motivational and sick. Bush is far from that, he is more like a playground bully.

[Al Kaholic]

Re: Cindy Sheehan arrested

It seems ludicrous to have to own a permit to demonstrate (if words were bullets and our mouths guns...), but if you're asked several times to move from a location, why not simply comply? Also, am I the only one that finds this reminiscent of the arrests made during the Terry Schiavo case?

Snarf does make a good point, though, that nowadays voicing an opinion differing from the norm can very well be regarded as anti-establishment. History repeats itself if humanity doesn't learn from it; I guess that applies to forgetting things, too.

[Kefka Jr.]

Re: Cindy Sheehan arrested

Another very popular thing that ha been happening in this country as of late are people comparing everything to the Holocaust or Hitler.

It's always so cheap to compare your opponent's argument to the Holocaust.

[IRC]

Re: Cindy Sheehan arrested

but if you're asked several times to move from a location, why not simply comply?

Because it's a protest. That's what protestors do. They get arrested and get in the news and then people talk about what their cause was. It's like PETA and all their banned commercials.

[Caciss]

Re: Cindy Sheehan arrested

1984, and a brave new world has nothing on us.

Oh please, you're an idiot if you think that 1984 is nothing compared to what we're going through now. Have you actually read the book?

I'm sure Terrorist will come in here, with a bunch of reasonings about how we're all being oppressed. But, guess what, it isn't nearly as bad as you're all making it out too be.

What Snarf said, stop being so ****ing dramatic.

[malaria]

Re: Cindy Sheehan arrested

Oh please, you're an idiot if you think that 1984 is nothing compared to what we're going through now. Have you actually read the book?
.

1984 ? Yes.

There is no need to call me an idiot. As a work of satire, We are at war almost quite constantly. We are being mislead. We do not uphold our own labor laws. The rest of the setting is being fought. socialism, equality, free housing. The rest of it is a romeo and julia story.

whatever. where did the hitler thing come in?

anybody see that drug free america commercial about: " if you smoke pot , you support terrorists."?

Caciss.... i'm looking in your direction .

have you read brave new world?.... fun stuff....