Monday, June 30, 2003

FREE SPEECH ZONE

Be afraid, be very afraid... Very worrying things are happening in the US thanks to the paranoia spawned by 11 September. If the Homeland Security Department - motto, "don't be afraid, be petrified" - were not bad enough to fuel the fears of every god-fearing American, then the actions of the clearly demented Attorney General, John "I lost an election to a dead man" Ashcroft, will send you to the bottle of valium.

The latest idiocy involves the prosecution of Brett Bursey, a lone wolf, peaceful demonstrator. I came acorss this Economist article this afternoon. It's a little dated now, but it tells a sorry tale of how the local prosecutors dropped charges against Bursey who was demostrating against Shrub Jnr in South Carolina becuase, hey, the guy had a right to free speech and wasn't doing any harm.

Now, on the direct instructions of Uber-Nazi Ashcroft, the federal government is taking him to court dredging up some ancient federal statute. If that were not bad enough, other protestors at the same site have been ignored by Ashcroft's thugs in dark suits, leather chairs and silver sports' cars. What's more, it transpires that Bursey was told by the Secret Service that he was only only allowed to protest in special areas, hnece the term "Free Speech Zone".

Thankfully, some federal lawmakers have taken up the charge and written to Mr Attorney Nutcase. The congressmen repsectfully point out that under the US Constitution the whole
of the country is a "Free Speech Zone". Whatever you do, don't let David Blunkett hear about this. It'll give him ideas... In the meantime, let's declare Ashcroft a "reality Free Zone".

There's a little sidebar here: the federal prosecutor invovled is Strom Thurmond Junior, son of Sen Strom Thurmond who dies recetnly having reached the ripe old age of 100. You may recall Sen Trent Lott destroyed his own political career at Thurmond's birthday party by praising the latter's segregationist presidential campaign in 1948.

:: Posted by pete @ 15:56