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Texas Couple Arrested for Wearing Anti-Bush Shirts at July 4 Campaign Stop

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by Oski2005, Jul 14, 2004.

  1. Oski2005

    Oski2005 Contributing Member

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    ‘We weren’t doing anything wrong’
    Couple in anti-Bush T-shirts were arrested at president’s speech

    By Tara Tuckwiller
    tara@wvgazette.com

    A husband and wife who wore anti-Bush T-shirts to the president’s Fourth of July appearance aren’t going down without a fight: They will be represented by lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union as they contest the trespassing charges against them Thursday morning in Charleston Municipal Court.

    Police took Nicole and Jeff Rank away in handcuffs from the event, which was billed as a presidential appearance, not a campaign rally. They were wearing T-shirts that read, “Love America, Hate Bush.”

    Spectators who wore pro-Bush T-shirts and Bush-Cheney campaign buttons were allowed to stay.

    “We weren’t doing anything wrong,” said Jeff Rank. The couple, who said they had tickets just like everybody else, said they simply stood around the Capitol steps with the rest of the spectators.

    “We sang the national anthem,” Rank said.

    The Ranks hardly fit the image of rabble-rousers. Jeff Rank, 29, has a master’s degree in oceanography. Nicole Rank, 30, has degrees in biological science and marine biology. They have been married for seven years.

    Nicole Rank arrived in Charleston soon after the Memorial Day floods. She was working as deputy environmental liaison officer for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, making sure cities and counties obeyed federal environmental laws as they repaired roads and bridges.

    After police arrested the Ranks, fingerprinted them and took their mug shots, FEMA told Nicole Rank she was no longer needed in West Virginia.

    “I have not been fired per se,” she said. “But I was released from this job. And when they release you from a job, you no longer get paid.”

    The Ranks started to go home to Corpus Christi, Texas, but they only got as far as Roanoke, Va., when it occurred to them that they might not be able to contest their arrest if they weren’t in Charleston on their court date. A phone call confirmed their suspicions. So they turned around.

    “We’ve been living in motels ever since,” said Jeff Rank, who spent Tuesday evening in his motel room with his wife, their cocker spaniel Feinman, and their marmalade cat Rowr.

    “It’s extremely difficult [financially]. We can only afford to do this for so long.”

    But they had to stay and fight the charges, he said, “because we didn’t think we were guilty.”

    Since Bush took office in early 2001, people have been banned from displaying anti-Bush messages at dozens of Bush appearances across the country. In September, the ACLU filed a federal lawsuit against the Secret Service, seeking an injunction against the Bush administration for segregating protesters at his public appearances.

    The Secret Service agreed that such censorship was wrong, said Witold Walczak, one of the lawyers that filed the lawsuit.

    “They had an internal memo dated September 2002, saying they couldn’t treat protesters differently or worse” than anyone else at a presidential appearance, Walczak said. “The judge said any agent responsible for doing so could be held liable for damages.”

    The Secret Service had been telling local police to sequester anyone displaying an anti-administration message, usually in areas completely out of sight and earshot of Bush. Because the Secret Service agreed with the ACLU that it shouldn’t be doing that, the judge dismissed the case.

    “Prior to filing our suit in September, we’d get a couple of confirmed ‘protest zone’ complaints every month,” Walczak said. “After we filed, there were practically none. We had two documented incidents between September and March: one in Little Rock, Ark., and one in Knoxville, Tenn.”

    But now, lawyers like Walczak are carefully monitoring cases like the Ranks’ — and two similar incidents recently in Pennsylvania.

    “We’re trying to assess what is going on at these appearances ... whether these ‘protest zones’ are resuming,” he said.

    “We are continuing to monitor all campaign events by both Republican and Democratic candidates. We’re prepared to go back into court if we see discrimination occurring.”

    Because Bush’s Fourth of July stop in Charleston was billed as an official presidential visit, not a campaign rally, “That makes it an even more glaring violation of the First Amendment,” said Andrew Schneider, executive director of the ACLU of West Virginia.

    “It’s an Orwellian way to keep speech out of sight of those the speech is intended to critique ... We want to nip this in the bud before it becomes a habit of future administrations.”

    A Bush spokesman did not return a telephone call seeking comment on the necessity of the “free speech zone.”

    To contact staff writer Tara Tuckwiller, use e-mail or call 348-5189.

    http://www.wvgazettemail.com/static/stories/2004071346.html

    This was on Drudge, I'm surprised that our Drudge addicts didn't think this story was interesting enough to post.
     
  2. Deckard

    Deckard Blade Runner
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    Unbelievable. :eek:
    The lady gets fired and their freedoms, and everyone elses, if this stands, get trampled on. If Bush had an ounce of integrity, he would fire who was responsible, get that woman rehired at FEMA, and see that the couple gets restitution. This is a huge deal. Thanks for the post, Oski. I hadn't seen that.
     
  3. giddyup

    giddyup Contributing Member

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    Man I bet Bush regrets knocking down that Hate Crime Legislation?
     
  4. Faos

    Faos Contributing Member

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    Lock em up and throw away the key.
     
  5. El_Conquistador

    El_Conquistador King of the D&D, The Legend, #1 Ranking
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  6. thadeus

    thadeus Contributing Member

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    Remember kids - fascism would never have happened if there weren't so many people who wanted it.
     
    #6 thadeus, Jul 14, 2004
    Last edited: Jul 14, 2004
  7. Lil Pun

    Lil Pun Contributing Member

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    How can you applaud this Trader, Faos?
     
  8. Lil Pun

    Lil Pun Contributing Member

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    Do you mean fascism?
     
  9. thadeus

    thadeus Contributing Member

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    No, what I actually meant to type was "Electric Boogaloo." It was a typo.
    ;)
     
  10. fadeaway

    fadeaway Contributing Member

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    Yeah, really.
     
  11. Faos

    Faos Contributing Member

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    It's pretty obvious they were wack jobs who might have been up to no good.

    I hope they were stip searched and probed anally.
     
  12. Jeff

    Jeff Clutch Crew

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    I liked you better before you visited the D&D.
     
  13. Faos

    Faos Contributing Member

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    C'mon, Jeff. I'm just joking around and decided to go without a :) until someone called me on it. People are too uptight around here. It wasn't as if I insulted someone personally here as many are prone to do.
     
  14. Oski2005

    Oski2005 Contributing Member

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    Faoscism is right, this is hilarious. F*ck free speech.
     
  15. Faos

    Faos Contributing Member

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    Whaaaaaaa
     
  16. Deckard

    Deckard Blade Runner
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    You can laugh all you want to, but your reaction would be a bit different if it were two Republicans who had this happen at a Kerry rally. And it would be just as wrong.
     
  17. Oski2005

    Oski2005 Contributing Member

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    It's ok, we all know that you guys have absolutely no valid argument to support this, so keep up the childish responses.
     
  18. El_Conquistador

    El_Conquistador King of the D&D, The Legend, #1 Ranking
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    X-PAC and Triple H say:

    [​IMG]

    SUCK IT LIBS
     
  19. Jeff

    Jeff Clutch Crew

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    Mine was actually a joke too. I considered adding "maybe maybe no" at the bottom or "your mean" but I was hoping the joke would get through without it. I did get yours, btw. :)

    I guess smilies ARE necessary! :D
     
  20. Faos

    Faos Contributing Member

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    It wouldn't happen.

    Republicans have class and wouldn't show up at the liberal elitist rally.


    :) <----please note.
     

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