Disagreeing with the Dark Lord
Can land you in jail.
The Rocky Mountain News reported on Tuesday that:
…Steve Howards was walking his 7-year-old son to a piano practice, when he saw Cheney surrounded by a group of people in an outdoor mall area, shaking hands and posing for pictures with several people.
According to the lawsuit filed at U.S. District Court in Denver, Howards and his son walked to about two-to-three feet from where Cheney was standing, and said to the vice president, “I think your policies in Iraq are reprehensible,” or words to that effect, then walked on.
Ten minutes later, according to Howards’ lawsuit, he and his son were walking back through the same area, when they were approached by Secret Service agent Virgil D. “Gus” Reichle Jr., who asked Howards if he had “assaulted” the vice president. Howards denied doing so, but was nonetheless placed in handcuffs and taken to the Eagle County Jail.
The Vail Daily News reported in June that Secret Service Spokesman Eric Zahren said of Howards:
“[He] wasn’t acting like the other folks in the area.”
“His behavior and demeanor wasn’t quite right,” Zahren said. “The agents tried to question him, and he was argumentative and combative”
You’d expect the Secret Service to exaggerate a bit when describing his behavior. They had to make the arrest appear justified.
But the way I see it is that Cheney and his entourage aren’t used to seeing dissenters. They are more accustomed to groups of gleeful, flag waving supporters that respectfully approach him and then bow down before him with their offerings of flowers. So when they encountered a man standing around waiting for the right moment to state his feelings about Cheney’s Iraqi War policies, he appeared out of place and threatening.
It’s actually pretty normal for most politicians to encounter dissenters, just not for members of the Bush Administration.
Sounds to me like the Bush screeners were a little lapse that day and let a dissenter slip through the defense lines into the inner circle of Bush/Cheney worshippers.
In any event, the charges were dismissed and, as Tuesday’s article reports, Mr. Howards filed a lawsuit against the Secret Service for violating his right to free speech and his right to be free from unlawful seizure.
That’s good, but if I were Mr. Howards, I’d be worried about being swept away by the CIA some day. I’d be concerned about being labeled an “enemy combatant,” being held prisoner without charges at an undisclosed location, and getting tortured until I acknowledged Cheney as the omnipotent savior of the free world.
Either that or getting shot in the face.
