On MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews today (09/17/2007), we heard from the lady in charge of "Code Pink," the matronly-female antiwar group, two of whose members were recently not only dragged out but threatened with arrest by the presiding chair of the Capitol Hill committee taking Petraeus' testimony.
Recounting how members of the group had been forcibly expelled and/or arrested by DEMOCRATS (by Pelosi, Conyers, and HILLARY CLINTON) as well as by Republicans, for such offenses as wearing T-shirts with slogans or "unacceptable" symbols like peace signs (unaccompanied by text), the Code Pink lady dropped a veritable bomb of a comment that stunned Matthews and guest Joe Conason, neither of whom had heard it before (nor had I). She stated that several of her members, after arrest and sentencing, had been given injunctions by the authorities (local judge, I presume, at law enforcement's request) forbidding them, under penalty of automatic arrest, to go near Congress for a period of weeks or even six months, and one person was given a "restraining order" that said she could not set foot in Washington DC for one year!
Think about it: Our government, using local justices as proxies, now claims it has the legal authoritiy to prevent citizens from travelling to certain CITIES (what next, STATES?) --controlling their freedom of movement within a radius of a dozen miles-- if they've ever been arrested for "disturbing the peace" in those places. Our "free speech zone" is shrinking, while their "no trespassing" zone is expanding to metropolitan-area size! Based on the uncontested legal precedents in how certain Code Pink members have been dealt with, in the foreseeable future anyone with a history of dissent may be legally prevented --by what amounts to a "free speech [and movement!] restraining order"-- from even leaving their home, much less driving interstate, or travelling abroad, without obtaining authorization from a court!
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