Getting booted from a NC fair for an Impeachment sign: "Wall of Shame"
Don't you just love the smell of freedom in Raleigh?
RALEIGH - Inside the Gov. James G. Martin building, the headquarters for State Fair security, stands the most interesting attraction fairgoers won't see. They call it the Wall of Shame. It's a cubicle partition where the police post information about the 25 people, as of Wednesday, who have been banned from the fair.
One guy had brass knuckles. Two people jumped the fence instead of paying admission. A teenager was tossed and accused of "attempted larceny of a stuffed zebra." Andy Silver was booted Saturday for carrying a sign that called for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Silver is with the Grassroots Impeachment Movement.
They said they needed to expel me because my sign might anger people and that someone might attack me. I was told I would be arrested for trespassing and taken to jail if I came back."..read on
It was for his own good. Well, that settles it. (h/t Daniel)
Just in case anyone was wondering, yes, our feedoms are going bye-bye.
*hangs head in shame*
Damn...my home state is evidently RED....I guess freedom of speech only applies if it isn't against BushCo....lovely...
I know when my first amendment rights are crushed, the first thing that comes to mind is that it's for my own good. I wonder if they have a paddle with small holes drilled in it to reinforce the behavioral lesson? Hurts so good!...
Does this mean that we can expel Bush from the country because someone might attack him?
He should try going to the fair with a "Support the Troops" sign and no permit and see what happens.
Stalin would have been envious.
"It's not so much what's on the sign. It's that he didn't go through the proper procedure,"
And what, praytell, are the "proper procedures?"
At least the cops could have set up a "free speech zone" somewhere in back of the porta-potties...
Rusty Shackleford @ 5:
I agree!
What is this Singapore? He needed an entertainment permit to express free speech?
The ACLU would slam dunk this. They should file a civil suit just to get the city to acknowledge its mistake. He is owed an apology, too, but an admission of a mistake would be good enough.
Sounds like protecting someone from themself. Personal responsibility my ass.
every freedom this nation has taken for granted is now is jeopardy. with the meida fully reigned in there is no recourse, well almost none.
Rusty Shackleford @ 5:
Nah, not "Support the Troops" - "Support Bush"
Welcome to the fair! Try the Kool-Aid!!
Maybe if they took the impeachment forms, and turned them into little tubes of paper filled with Frankentobacco, it'll go over better.
Raleigh is Mayberry country.
The minute it looks like there's gonna be trouble, you got to nip it! Nip it in the bud!
David B. @ 3:
They're called Spencer Paddles, and can with or without a metal rod inside.
A couple of variations is encasing the paddle in leather, and/or studding the leather with flat pieces of metal.
Time to SUE BABY SUE!
Sue North Carolina, the First Fascist State.
and can COME with...
No one is allowed to carry signs of anykind "for the troops", "for impeachment", for your choice for governor, for anything, unless you are selling fried something......not new..been that way for a very long time. Its a Fair...lots of big pumpkins, big pigs(two and four legged variety), big hair... NC Govt. is dominated by Dems, and Fayatteville..home of 82nd Airborne has a loud and visible anti war group...so lets get the story straight...you are being a tad Fox like.
Is the ACLU going to take this one on? Next thing, people wearing perfume will be banned from the fair for interfering with the smells that generate food vendor sales. Good grief. This is too stupid for words. I know there a lot of very sensible, intelligent, AND PROGRESSIVE people in Raleigh. Where are they on this one?
He needs to head back to the fair with as many friends as he can find, wearing "IMPEACH BUSH" T-shirts, hats, and buttons. Then let's see what the "wall of shame" clowns, who obviously do not understand the U.S. Constitution, will do.
ACLU did help, and he can come back, just not w/his sign.
See: http://www.newsobserver.com/print/friday/city_state/story/742137.html
"
Fairgoer off 'wall of shame'
He can't carry his 'Impeach Bush' sign, but he can have the message on a T-shirt
Michael Biesecker, Staff Writer
RALEIGH - Andy Silver, who was detained by police at the N.C. State Fair last weekend and threatened with arrest while wearing a sign calling for the impeachment of President Bush, is officially welcome back.
The ban on Silver's attendance was lifted Thursday, less than three hours after the American Civil Liberties Union weighed in on his behalf.
"
UPDATE:
Mr. Silvers's ban lasted less than a day. He's been officially welcome back at the state fair. Note the shifting excuses from the fair police as to why he was booted.
There is no one in this country right now who is able to convince people it is possible to summon the creativity and energy to outwit, outwork, and outsmart the authoritarians.
larry @ 20:
That's why I suggested he carry a sign right-wingers would approve - to see if the rules are being applied equally.
Check out the new Senator Dodd vedio posted at www.firedoglake.com. HE WILL FILIBUSTER FISA and now he has the backing of Feingold!
Mark Turner @ 24:
It looks like they were protecting right-wingers' god-given constitutional right not to be offended by contrary viewpoints.
From the updated article:
"We just don't allow people to walk around with signs because we don't want somebody to get poked in the eye."
Hahaheehee and hoho.
I don't see why not? It'll match the black eye you just got. I'm sure they had no problem with people walking around with signs to impeach Clinton.
Oh! he didn't get a permit to carry the sign. well that explains it. i always get government censor approval before i wear t-shirts with slogans and only put up approved garage sale signs.
just another law breaking smelly hippy with some CrRrrraAazzZZyyyee off the wall message that a lowly 70% of americans agree with.
but all silliness aside. if the KKKops were concerned he'd be attacked for his message; isn't it their job to protect individual ciitzens from gang violence? i think those cops should be on that shame wall...it certainly is a shame.
p.s. ppl also get threats to be put off commercial airliners because of a t-shirt with a slogan...well, it WAS the wrong slogan.
Free Speech. Who needs it? Have you guys forgotten we're at war. You must always check your freedoms at the door in a time of war. I think that's written in the bible or something. ;)
Fear just gives narrow-minded souls the excuse to exhibit their deep-rooted wishes.
Those cops are in the 24% that approve of Bush, they wanted to get back at the majority for pointing out the obvious. (The emperor has no clothes.)
you know on second thought, his message is now on the "Wall of Shame" and getting viewed over and over. the very fact that someone who says IMPEACH is tacked onto the wall with crims will no doubt cause some of the viewer to go hmmm?
Yoohoo @ 18:
Whoa! Easy there tiger...NC is many things, but it's no fascist...now if this sort of thing was happening frequently statewide...I might agree with ya, but as of this moment I do not. Though I do get emails from an anti-war group in Charlotte, NC about how the city police allowed some pro-Bushco brownshirts called " A flight of Eagles" (or some jingoist BS like that) to intimidate Cindy Sheehans group from protesting downtown, and things got frighteningly close to violence...according to the email anyway, I wasn't there, so I can't say for sure what happened...kinda pissed me off that my city would allow something like that to go on...
They said they needed to expel me because my sign might anger people and that someone might attack me. I was told I would be arrested for trespassing and taken to jail if I came back.”
Oh, well that's ok then. That's not like censorship at all! =)
The government in North Carolina has "nothing to fear, but fair itself."
Don Davis @ 36:
Drum roll please! LOL!!!
Peoples Front of Judea @ 7:
Burn the sign in front of the inspectors, guards, bushes, chainknees, supeme court, etc. ;)
"The land of the free and the home of the brave." Well, it's half right as long as there are folks like Larry Silver.
pissed off patricia @ 31:
Yeah, I think the Sanhedrin tried explaining that to Jesus when he rode into town on a donkey ...
"Hey! You there, Nazarene! You need a permit for this gathering! Now, disperse, or we'll nail you to a cross or something!"
;:
I've been to the Raleigh fair before and carried signs. Weird. They even have political booths representing the parties where you can buy signs like this. How odd.
So, what color are the Raleigh cops shirts, brown?
pissed off patricia @ 31:
I thought the bible was written in blazing letters on a wall by the flaming finger of God.
In other words the bible is God giving us the finger.
Hmm, he might get attacked b/c he was carrying a sign that angered people. They couldn't help it.
A woman wearing a miniskirt might be attacked if somebody loses control. He couldn't help it.
Same thing.
This is shameful, unacceptable.
Bush and Cheney need to go on trial for treason against the United States of America.
They are both traitors. It is our country and our right to tell it like it is.
Or are we now Communist China?
And if he went about occasionally shouting, "Impeach Bush! Impeach Cheney!" would he have been banned from the fair, only to be allowed back in without his mouth?
Or would that be explained away as 'inciting to riot' and 'disturbing the peace'?
That's what happens when you don't lick their boots.
Is it a Police State yet? Welcome to Soviet Amerika.
Getting booted from a NC fair for an Impeachment sign: “Wall of Shame”
The North Carolina State Fair features a Wall of Shame, where police post information about the 25 people who have been banned from the fair. One guy had brass knuckles. A teenager was tossed and accused of “attempted larceny of a stuffed zebra.” A...
lucid fiction @ 47:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwqhhZnl8G4&mode=related&search=
lucid fiction @ 47:
I think the danger lies in rationalizing things away with 'it's not the same as ...' and 'it's not as bad as ...', or that oppression is impossible as long as we have our American Idol and iPods.
There may be a little distortion here on the reporting. The only way to tell is for others to go to the fair wearing impeach t-shirts, not hand out pamphlets and see what happens. That would give reason for a suit if they were not allowed to attend, or ejected after lawfully entering. The billboard and pamphlets would not be acceptable and would probably be designated as such by the courts.
liberalNmoderation @ 34:
I think you have to go a little further south to get to the true fascist states. North Carolina, home of John Edwards is also home to Research Triangle Park, 2 of the most liberal universities in the nation - Duke and UNC, progressive small towns like Asheville, Wilmington, Chapel Hill and Carboro. Charlotte is the largest banking center outside NYC and the Raleigh/Durham area has among the highest per capita of its population with advanced degrees than any metro area in the nation and is perhaps the most arts friendly and diverse of any southern state and only the University of California has more campuses than the 17-campus University of North Carolina system
Fascist state? South Carolina perhaps, not North Carolina.
glad to see the first amendment alive and well ....
... up and until the time you use it
Linda @ 21:
That would be me. This thread is assinine -- and full of parody trolls (I'm guessing -- God, I hope). What dumbass would go to the NC State Fair to get into free speech issues, let alone call for the removal of gov't leaders? I personally feel that this guy's got nothin' on my desire to see W & Darth frog marched into oblivion, but really. WTF?
Oh, when you visit, try the deep-fried oreo -- y'all come back now, hear?
What we need is for a bunch of women to go to this fair wearing anti-Bush T-shirts, and NOT wearing bras. See if the cops make them take their shirts off...
stupid mouth-breathers don't care if people they aren't related to have been killed or crippled by Bush's war or that oil is near 90 dollars a barrel or that 3 trillion has been added to the debt from tax cuts for the top 1 percent or that their own children don't have health insurance. These rapture bunnies support repubs to keep them "safe" from the gays and immigrants
Ruthless People @ 51:
Thanks Ruthless! In your FACE Yoohoo!!! ;)
Wow, home state of my favorite buttboy Patrick McHenry! That boy needs a spankin!
It's time we stop playing nice and start acknowledging these people's (Cheney et al) intentions. The Dollar is crashing. The Country is being Privatized. The Government is in debt. The Military stretched.
These people including Cheney, PNAC, CFR, etc. might be wanting to weaken America to the point where we'll accept a North American Union with a new currency, like that which the European people succumbed to. I personally like the U.S. Gov't. Our Sovereignty. Our Dollar. Our Constitution.
I don't want to be run be corporations or a world government. Why don't we elect some people who value the unique American country. These people represent multi-national corporations. No wonder they could care less about our Constitution or our Country. They look at us as consumers and nothing more. Wake Up Please. Thanks.
It's funny that we elected a oil tycoon to the white house and any of us are suprised that we have record prices in Oil, over 90 dollars a barrel, a war for Oil, Iraq, and people who do not care or value the American Constitution.
Roy @ 55:
Yeah, baby...keep talkin.. Do the cops have spatulas?
Yeah we didnt need that pesky fuck*n first amendment anyway did we........
"McLeod's explanation that Silver's sign posed a safety hazard......"
Gee......let's discuss potential safety hazards at a state fair. Let me see, the amusement rides, not to mention the potential of sex offenders that are known to flock to such events that attract children? Yep, I guess wearing a sign displaying ones displeasure with Jorge and Ricardo would rank right up at the top with those two.
Well, well, well. For who's own good?
Unfortunately the repukes are everywhere - the kool-aid has been disseminated to all of the slack-jawed, and the orders are in. "All must hail bush - our neo-fuhrer"
Peoples Front of Judea @ 7:
Swearing eternal loyalty to Bu$hco.
WHY WHY WHY!?!?!?!
Seems like every time my state is in the news...it's always bad...or Nascar related...GAH!!
it's time to expel bush/cheney from the USA, they totally and completely offend me.
send them to the hague the world court in hamburg, germany.
please expidite them immediately. they are war criminals and i am so offended by
all their crimes against the US and the World.
Vee haff veys of making ya not talk.
I lived in raleigh for many years. And I have gone to the fair every year I was there.
I am very saddend by this shit the police pulled there.
But If it was pulled off in the "peoples republic of cary" he would have been executed.
(Local's will get the joke)
Moon @ 63:
They sell fried Snicker's bars, for chrissake!
You mean he didn't get tazered? Now that's progress!
There's no telling what folks might do "for their own good" if authoritarian governements didn't guide them on their way, now, is there?
I was in DC for a couple of days and went to the white house to take a picture of me flipping off the white house (which you can view at www.myspace.com/sanfranguns). While I was there, there was a protestor and one of the security details kept stepping in front of his sign. It struck me as very childish and not really his job. It also helped the protestor stand out more, so in a way, it helped!
Number one reason that most people will accept this violation of one's civil rights to free-speech and dissent, and ignore this as a non-issue: PUBLIC SAFETY.
Have the cops and public officials mention that, and the rest of public and media will accept this reasoning, never mind the blatant violation of free-speech and one's right to dissent. PUBLIC SAFETY is paramount, and all else is secondary.
It's a shame that this happened, it's embarrassing. I guess I'm a little surprised because I saw plenty of politics there today....
When I was there today I signed several petitions about the ending the Iraq war. Even had a right-to life lady push a plastic fetus in my face (which immediately pissed me off by the way, I have a thing about personal space). She reacted to my shock by providing an excuse that she did this because "people didn't know where babys come from". I told he that I felt that that statement was both foolish and insulting and then just walked away. (see: I also demonstrated some freedom of speech today)
I also saw many democratic stickers and generally had fun. Aside from the politics, I caught spa day for the Jersey cows (yes they even used blow dryers) even caught the 1:00 pig race. (good times ;-))
I've never considered NC a red state, we usually Elect Democratic Governor and state house. However I definitely see us going heading more Blue.
jim
I am so going now - and wearing my "Veterans for Peace" t-shirt.
FORCE CONGRESS TO IMPEACH. Call Nancy Pelosi @ 1-202--225-0100 DEMAND IMPEACHMENT.
I have learned that the Congress need 60 more votes to get IMEACHMENT off and running. AMERICA needs to KNOW who IS for IMPEACHMENT and who is NOT for it. THE CONGRESS MUST sign in to HR333 in order for AMERICA to KNOW which Congressman is resisting the IMPEACHMENT PROCESSES.
Not BEING TRANSPARENT to the AMERICAN PEOPLE will be seen as ANOTHER POLITICAL ploy to control public opinion away from IMPECHMENT. The only sue bet for congressman to stay in office are those who have sign on to HR333. Anyone who failed to support it DOES NOT SUPPORT AMERICA as WHOLE.
Welcome to our police state
most of you I think are stretching here...he was trying to advertise something (something I agree with) on a sign for free...if he had it on a t-shirt he would have been fine I think and/or he might have a case he could take to court with...it is expensive to run a fair and they get most of that money through merchants who advertise...and yes you see both parties with booths there handing out buttons and banners because they paid the appropriate fees.
Wait a second! #74 is right, this is NOT a red state and is becoming bluer every day. Chapel Hill/Carrboro is the very bleeding heart of the Southern Left and I am proud to call this home. On the main drag into Apex from Cary there is a very prominently displayed "Honk to Impeach" sign on some enlightened soul's lawn, thousands of cars pass it every day, it's been there for months, and though no one as far as I can tell actually honks neither has anyone vandalized it and the local cops obviously respect this guy's right to post a sign on his own property. And #79 is also right-- to support itself the State Fair requires advertisers/exhibitors to rent space, and thus formal expression of a political opinion (formal in the sense that it's not just casual conversation but rather presented in the form of an advertisement) is not, nor should it necessarily be, "free." The Fair is not prohibiting political discourse, and it is not even censoring this particular content-- hell, they are actually promoting this message by providing it free exposure on their "don't do this" display. Don't take this as an example of how backwards or fascistic the state of NC may be because it ain't that way. To the extent that it's meaningful to speak of a "New South" this is it. The Triangle is every bit as progressive and cosmopolitan as Austin or Atlanta or any other example one might choose to illustrate how Dixie can lift itself out of gooberdom, ok?
liberalNmoderation @ 2:
nc is as neocon as they come- is the home of blackwater- jesse helms had how many terms there- i was there recently and couldn't find one decent radio station, everything country music no npr or either it was hip hop music
NC USED to be very neo-con and backward, there are still alot of (rebel) flag waving assholes there, but also a friggin SHITLOAD of progressives...when I was living in Charlotte, when Jesse Helms retired damn near every bar threw a party...good times good times...and there are some decent radio stations up there too, NPR is there, waaaay down on the FM dial...but I agree that there are a shit-ton of xtian bible thumper and country stations...and if look hard enough there are some kickass college stations once you get in the Raliegh-Durham, Chapel Hill areas...and DON'T get me started on bbq or the fish camps...damn I miss me some hushpuppies!!!
77 Proud American
Not HR666?
Rusty Shackleford @ 5:
as a test, why not have 2 people standing together, both w/o permits, but with identically-sized-and-lettered-signs.
One holding a "support the troops" and the other holding an impeachment sign.
And have the ACLU monitoring.
It would make a good court case.
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