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Originally posted by ceci2006
And then, another celebrated case is with Cindy Sheehan wearing the T-Shirt with the number of dead soldiers on the front. She was taken away by the police. A republican politician's wife who was wearing a pro-Iraq shirt was let in to the SOTU address. Does that mean only "dissent" in a positive light is only allowed around our national leader?
House rules bar demonstrations in the galleries.
On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Bill Young, R-Florida, spoke on the House floor saying his wife, Beverly, had been "ordered to leave" the gallery during the speech for wearing a shirt that said, "Support Our Troops."
www.cnn.com...
On Wednesday afternoon, U.S. Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer said neither woman should have been removed from the chamber. "We made a mistake," he told CNN.
He said an apology was made to Bill and Beverly Young, and the congressman has been told that Capitol officers will receive better training. He said they are operating under outdated guidance on House rules regarding demonstrations.
"Just wearing a T-shirt is not unlawful," Gainer said. Wearing a T-shirt and engaging in actions meant to draw attention to the shirt is against the law, he said, but neither woman was doing so .
Originally posted by ceci2006
Then what would be criteria for "proper dissent" beside it being peaceful?
ABOUT PATRIOTISM AND DISSENT IN A FREE SOCIETY
A free society is the only place where patriotism and dissent coexist.
Uniformity is not unity. Sheep are very uniform.
Loyalty is earned. It is not commanded. It is a gift, not a debt.
Dissent is not disloyalty. Conformity may be.
Freedom is special. Without it we are nothing.
If I cannot speak neither can you.
The President and the Presidency are not the same. One lasts longer than the other
I think it's my job as a citizen to say what I think, as long as I say it peacefully in the course of a civil debate[...]I think that there is no more appropriate time than a time of national crisis, than a time when we are entering a very complicated and dangerous war to hear diverse opinions on whether or not the Administration's actions are going to make this a safer or a more dangerous world, whether or not we really can trust the president. I'm always troubled when I see too much faith in government because - and too much faith in the president - because just as government can't function when people don't trust it at all, freedom doesn't survive very well when people trust it too much.
"I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually."
- James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son
"Disobedience, in the eyes of any one who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion."
- Oscar Wilde
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
- Dr. Martin Luther King