How scared is Bushco of the public?
These Seattle news pictures from Daniel Kirkdorffer at The Road To 2008 illustrate pretty starkly the current inability of the average American to practice their much-vaunted right to public free speech against an unpopular president and his policies without being threatened by armed goons.
The pictures were taken as Bush was on a private fundraisng tour on purely Republican business, nothing to do with his presidential responsibilities at all: not only is Bush misusing police as his personal stormtroopers (although they seem perfectly content in the role, which is what I’d find most worrying if I were American) he’s also misusing public tax money for party political purposes.
When Bush Starts Turning Weapons On Us
The photo I posted Monday night of the police officer pointing a weapon at protestors of Bush’s visit to Bellevue is getting a lot of notice.
Man of The People (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Some have wondered whether it was photoshopped. It wasn’t. This was taken in downtown Bellevue, Washington. Shopping Town Washington some might call it. Clean skyscrappers, Hummer delight, charmlessly wealthy.
I snagged the photo from Yahoo. Here’s another:
(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)This is disturbing on so many levels. We’re in a fight for our civil liberties. We’re trying to save our Constitution. We’re opposed to Bush’s Iraq occupation. We’re sick of the lying and corruption. And now we’re targets at the end of a gun point.
These people are the targets:
The Targets (John Lok / The Seattle Times
Democracy and Freedom in the Homeland, Bush style.
Tsk, whiny libruls, what’s their beef? Can’t take a little repression?
Now see, if they were only good Americans Republicans, instead of a bunch of islam-loving, first-amendment-respecting, god-hating rabble, they’d know this is all SOP for a reigning monarch, as laid out in the super-seekrit anti-protest handbook given out to supporters by the White House. Trouble is it’s so super-seekit that that the godless anarchist Bush-haters UnAmericans protestors can’t see it. It’s only for the Chosen Ones, so they can protect their Chimperor:
The “Presidential Advance Manual,” dated October 2002 with the stamp “Sensitive — Do Not Copy,” was released under subpoena to the American Civil Liberties Union as part of a lawsuit filed on behalf of two people arrested for refusing to cover their anti-Bush T-shirts at a Fourth of July speech at the West Virginia State Capitol in 2004. The techniques described have become familiar over the 6 1/2 years of Bush’s presidency, but the manual makes it clear how organized the anti-protest policy really is.
The lawsuit was filed by Jeffery and Nicole Rank, who attended the Charleston event wearing shirts with the word “Bush” crossed out on the front; the back of his shirt said “Regime Change Starts at Home,” while hers said “Love America, Hate Bush.” Members of the White House event staff told them to cover their shirts or leave, according to the lawsuit. They refused and were arrested, handcuffed and briefly jailed before local authorities dropped the charges and apologized. The federal government settled the First Amendment case last week for $80,000, but with no admission of wrongdoing.
The manual demonstrates “that the White House has a policy of excluding and/or attempting to squelch dissenting viewpoints from presidential events,” said ACLU lawyer Jonathan Miller. “Individuals should have the right to express their opinion to the president, even if it’s not a favorable one.”
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said that he could not discuss the manual because it is an issue in two other lawsuits.
The manual offers advance staffers and volunteers who help set up presidential events guidelines for assembling crowds. Those invited into a VIP section on or near the stage, for instance, must be ” extremely supportive of the Administration,” it says. While the Secret Service screens audiences only for possible threats, the manual says, volunteers should examine people before they reach security checkpoints and look out for signs. Make sure to look for “folded cloth signs,” it advises.
To counter any demonstrators who do get in, advance teams are told to create “rally squads” of volunteers with large hand-held signs, placards or banners with “favorable messages.” Squads should be placed in strategic locations and “at least one squad should be ‘roaming’ throughout the perimeter of the event to look for potential problems,” the manual says.
“These squads should be instructed always to look for demonstrators,” it says. “The rally squad’s task is to use their signs and banners as shields between the demonstrators and the main press platform. If the demonstrators are yelling, rally squads can begin and lead supportive chants to drown out the protestors (USA!, USA!, USA!). As a last resort, security should remove the demonstrators from the event site.”
How? With the use of automatic weapons, presumably. Why else be toting them and threatening the crowd? “Constitution? Rights? What’s one of those? What are you, some kind of terrorist?”
Advance teams are advised not to worry if protesters are not visible to the president or cameras: “If it is determined that the media will not see or hear them and that they pose no potential disruption to the event, they can be ignored. On the other hand, if the group is carrying signs, trying to shout down the President, or has the potential to cause some greater disruption to the event, action needs to be taken immediately to minimize the demonstrator’s effect.”
Immediate action? Oh, you mean like at Kent State. Yes, that worked so well last time.
