At the State of the Union Address last week, Beverly Young, wife of U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Fla., was kicked out of the House gallery for wearing a shirt that read, 'Support the Troops Defending Our Freedom.' After reluctantly leaving, she argued with the officers who escorted her out, wanting to know why she was not allowed to stay. They claimed she was protesting.
Cindy Sheehan, infamous for protesting outside George Bush's ranch in Crawford, Tex. over the summer, was also removed from the State of the Union address. Sheehan received her ticket from Rep. Lynn Wooley, D-Calif, and had no intentions of disrupting the event. When she was escorted to her seat and unzipped her jacket, she revealed a shirt that said, '2245 Dead. How many more'? Upon seeing the shirt, the officer who escorted her seconds earlier yelled 'protester,' hauled her out of her seat and arrested her.
Neither Beverly Young nor Cindy Sheehan had any intentions of disrupting the address. Their shirts were worn to make statements, and according to House of Representatives rules, that is not allowed'an unfortunate departure from the First Amendment. This, of course, is not the first time such an egregious act has taken place.
On March 21, 2005 during the height of President Bush's town hall-style Social Security events, three people were kicked out of an audience in Colorado. Their crime: a bumper sticker that read, 'No More Blood For Oil.' These three citizens had tickets to the event, which was funded by taxpayers, but were told to leave because it was a 'private event.'
That same day someone was kicked out of Bush's Social Security privatization event simply for wearing a Democratic T-shirt. It seems the White House has excluded citizens from taxpayer-funded events in Colorado, Arizona, North Dakota and New Hampshire simply for expressing disagreement with the president.
President Bush shields himself from all dissent. The audience is handpicked at almost every event he speaks at. Questions are pre-packaged. In October he even held a teleconference with U.S. troops that was later revealed to be staged.
Not only are his events packaged to his liking, but so is his news. A few years ago President Bush admitted he does not read newspapers. Every morning Chief of Staff Andrew Card and National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley brief him on the days' news events. Not exactly the same thing as reading The New York Times.
Does the revelation that our president does not actually read the newspaper and instead gets everything filtered to him through his right-wing staff bother anyone else?
President Bush is the sugar-coated president. He is spoon-fed what he wants to hear by his closest advisors. His supposed 'public events' are privatized by sifting out all those who may potentially disagree with him. He lives in a bubble.
What happened to Beverly Young, Cindy Sheehan and the three in Colorado just goes to show how little the government values our right of freedom of speech. It seems since Bush took office he has given us one message: Dissent equals treason.
