Repression In DC: Sheehan Arrested For T-Shirt
Various | 01.02.2006 19:15
She can't even say, "My son was died for LIARS in Iraq, and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt"!
Of course, the tightly-controlled media said none of this as they agonizingly tried to "stretch", to fill time while awaiting George the Lesser to begin spouting rhetoric - time they didn't bother to waste in covering the protests, which were kept a safe distance from the Capitol.
Her crime seems to be re-invigorating the anti-war movement.
Of course, the tightly-controlled media said none of this as they agonizingly tried to "stretch", to fill time while awaiting George the Lesser to begin spouting rhetoric - time they didn't bother to waste in covering the protests, which were kept a safe distance from the Capitol.
Her crime seems to be re-invigorating the anti-war movement.
The fear of the Fascists was on full display last night. Even Bush([search]) couldn't keep a straight face while lying to America, and telling us all how swimingly his Regime's reign has been.
What Really Happened
By Cindy Sheehan
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Wednesday 01 February 2006
As most of you have probably heard, I was arrested before the State of the Union address last night.
I am speechless with fury at what happened and with grief over what we have lost in our country.
There have been lies from the police([search]) and distortions by the press (shocker). So this is what really happened:
This afternoon at the People's State of the Union Address in DC, where I was joined by Congresspersons Lynn Woolsey and John Conyers, Ann Wright, Malik Rahim and John Cavanagh, Lynn brought me a ticket to the State of the Union address. At that time, I was wearing the shirt that said: 2245 Dead. How many more?
After the PSOTU press conference, I was having second thoughts about going to the SOTU at the Capitol. I didn't feel comfortable going. I knew George Bush would say things that would hurt me and anger me, and I knew that I couldn't disrupt the address because Lynn had given me the ticket, and I didn't want to be disruptive out of respect for her. I, in fact, had given the ticket to John Bruhns, who is in Iraq([search]) Veterans Against the War. However, Lynn's office had already called the media, and everyone knew I was going to be there, so I sucked it up and went.
I got the ticket back from John, and I met one of Congresswoman Barbara Lee's staffers in the Longworth Congressional Office building and we went to the Capitol via the underground tunnel. I went through security once, then had to use the rest room and went through security again.
My ticket was in the 5th gallery, front row, fourth seat in. The person who in a few minutes was to arrest me, helped me to my seat.
I had just sat down and I was warm from climbing 3 flights of stairs back up from the bathroom so I unzipped my jacket. I turned to the right to take my left arm out, when the same officer saw my shirt and yelled, "Protester." He then ran over to me, hauled me out of my seat, and roughly (with my hands behind my back) shoved me up the stairs. I said something like "I'm going, do you have to be so rough?" By the way, his name is Mike Weight.
The officer ran with me to the elevators, yelling at everyone to move out of the way. When we got to the elevators, he cuffed me and took me outside to await a squad car. On the way out, someone behind me said, "That's Cindy Sheehan." At which point the officer who arrested me said, "Take these steps slowly." I said, "You didn't care about being careful when you were dragging me up the other steps." He said, "That's because you were protesting." Wow, I got hauled out of the People's House because I was "Protesting."
I was never told that I couldn't wear that shirt into the Congress. I was never asked to take it off or zip my jacket back up. If I had been asked to do any of those things ... I would have, and written about the suppression of my freedom of speech later. I was immediately and roughly (I have the bruises and muscle spasms to prove it) hauled off and arrested for "unlawful conduct."
After I had my personal items inventoried and my fingers printed, a nice Sgt. came in and looked at my shirt and said, "2245, huh? I just got back from there."
I told him that my son died there. That's when the enormity of my loss hit me. I have lost my son. I have lost my First Amendment rights. I have lost the country that I love. Where did America go? I started crying in pain.
What did Casey die for? What did the 2244 other brave young Americans die for? What are tens of thousands of them over there in harm's way for still? For this? I can't even wear a shirt that has the number of troops on it that George Bush and his arrogant and ignorant policies are responsible for killing.
I wore the shirt to make a statement. The press knew I was going to be there, and I thought every once in awhile they would show me, and I would have the shirt on. I did not wear it to be disruptive, or I would have unzipped my jacket during George's speech. If I had any idea what happens to people who wear shirts that make the neocons uncomfortable, that I would be arrested ... maybe I would have, but I didn't.
There have already been many wild stories out there.
I have some lawyers looking into filing a First Amendment lawsuit against the government for what happened tonight. I will file it. It is time to take our freedoms and our country back.
I don't want to live in a country that prohibits any person, whether or not he/she has paid the ultimate price for that country, from wearing, saying, writing, or telephoning any negative statements about the government. That's why I am going to take my freedoms and liberties back. That's why I am not going to let BushCo take anything else away from me ... or you.
I am so appreciative of the couple of hundred of protesters who came to the jail while I was locked up to show their support. We have so much potential for good. There is so much good in so many people.
Four hours and 2 jails after I was arrested, I was let out. Again, I am so upset and sore it is hard to think straight.
Keep up the struggle ... I promise you, I will too.
Go to Original
Sheehan Arrested before Speech
By Clarence Williams and Allan Lengel
The Washington Post
Wednesday 01 February 2006
Activist Cindy Sheehan was arrested last night after demonstrating in the spectators gallery of the House of Representatives as part of a larger war protest that was held outside the Capitol.
Sheehan, who was apparently given a gallery ticket by a member of Congress, began to attract notice about 30 minutes to an hour before President Bush's State of the Union speech.
Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq, opened her jacket to reveal a T-shirt that, according to a supporter, gave the number of U.S. war dead and asked, "How many more?"
She was also vocal, said U.S. Capitol Police Chief Terrance W. Gainer, and after she ignored instructions to close her jacket and quiet down, she was led out and arrested. Demonstrating in the House gallery is prohibited.
Sheehan's sister Dede Miller told a reporter that Rep. Lynn C. Woolsey (D-Calif.) had invited Sheehan as her guest. Woolsey could not be reached immediately for comment.
Late last night, about 50 protesters marched to the Capitol Police station to demand Sheehan's release. One of them was arrested. Miller said Sheehan was being processed early this morning.
Earlier last night, a band of banner-waving antiwar demonstrators clustered outside the Capitol and took the start of Bush's speech as a cue to let loose with an ear-splitting outburst of noise.
The group gathered at the statue of Ulysses S. Grant on the west side of the Capitol grounds for the protest, which was organized under the slogan of "The World Can't Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime."
At the moment when a nearby TV set showed Bush beginning his address in the House chamber, the protesters responded with bongo drums, maracas and whistles.
The protesters' Web site urged participants to "Bring the Noise and Drown out Bush's lies."
As the president concluded, the noise reached a peak as protesters banged pots and pans, shouting "Bush step down, people rise up."
At one point, demonstrators sang peace anthems of an earlier day, including "Give Peace a Chance" and "All You Need Is Love."
One of the speakers at the rally before the outbreak of tumult identified himself as Bill Mitchell and said his son, Army Sgt. Mike Mitchell, was killed in Baghdad in April 2004.
"We knew this war was wrong from the beginning," he said, "and we are not going to stop speaking" until the troops are brought home.
"We are going to demand that our government bring them home. We need to bring an end to this insanity," he said as the temperature fell and the wind gusted.
A speaker identified as Ann Wright, who had served in the State Department and as an Army officer, called on the protesters to organize for this year's congressional elections as a means of stopping the war. "We've got to put some spine into people who serve us right here," she said, pointing toward the Capitol.
Staff writer Martin Weil contributed to this report.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020106Z.shtml
US activist arrested for anti-war shirt
Date: 01/02/06
Activist Cindy Sheehan was arrested in the House of Representatives chamber shortly before President George W Bush gave his State of the Union address because she refused to cover up an anti-war slogan on her shirt.
Sheehan, who was attending the speech as the guest of US Democratic Rep Lynn Woolsey of California, was taken from the Capitol in handcuffs and charged with unlawful conduct, said Capitol Police Sgt Kimberly Schneider.
A Reuters photographer said Sheehan entered the House gallery a few minutes before Bush was to speak and was directed to her seat.
She had been seated for less than a minute when a plainclothes Capitol Police officer took her by the arm, said, "You've got to leave," and rushed her from the gallery.
Sheehan did not resist and left with a smile. Rather than hearing Bush say in his speech that there would be no sudden US withdrawal from Iraq, Sheehan was being processed at the US Capitol Police headquarters near the Capitol.
Schneider said Sheehan was arrested because she was wearing a T-shirt with an anti-war slogan and refused to cover it up.
She said the unlawful conduct charge carries a maximum sentence of one year in jail.
Sheehan, who became a central figure for the US anti-war movement after her son Casey was killed in the Iraq war, won wide attention with an anti-war vigil outside Bush's Texas ranch.
Sheehan and other activists were arrested in September for protesting outside the White House without a permit, a misdemeanour that carries a $US50 ($A66) fine.
Copyright © 2006 REUTERS
http://seven.com.au/news/topstories/140207
Police remove Sheehan from Bush speech
By LAURIE KELLMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Cindy Sheehan finally got her invitation to see President Bush again, but before she set eyes on him at the State of the Union address, Capitol Police removed her from the gallery overlooking the House chamber.
The offense: her shirt, bearing an anti-war message and other "unlawful conduct," police said.
Sheehan, the mother of a fallen soldier in Iraq who reinvigorated the anti-war movement, was handcuffed and charged with unlawful conduct, according to Capitol Police Sgt. Kimberly Schneider. The charge was a misdemeanor and Sheehan was being released on her own recognizance, Schneider said.
Schneider said Sheehan had worn a T-shirt with an anti-war slogan to Tuesday night's speech and covered it up until she took her seat. Police warned her that such displays were not allowed in the House chamber, but she did not respond, the spokeswoman said.
Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., gave Sheehan her only ticket earlier in the day - Gallery 5, seat 7, row A - while Sheehan was attending an "alternative state of the union" news conference by CODEPINK, a group pushing for an end to the Iraq war.
"I'm proud that Cindy's my guest tonight," Woolsey said in an interview before the speech. "She has made a difference in the debate to bring our troops home from Iraq."
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Sheehan, wrapped in a bright pink scarf against the cold, protested outside the White House with a handful of others before heading to the Capitol for Bush's speech. There were no cameras around, but the small band faced the executive mansion and shouted repeatedly, "You're evicted! Get out of our house!"
Sheehan was arrested in September with about 300 other anti-war activists in front of the White House after a weekend of protests against the war in Iraq. In August, she spent 26 days camped near Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, where he was spending a working vacation.
---
First lady Laura Bush's guests at her husband's annual address to Congress certainly were diverse. One, in fact, wasn't even human.
Rex, a 5-year-old German shepherd, fit in with the other Iraq war veterans who were guests of Republicans and Democrats.
Rex sniffed out bombs in Iraq. He's been the subject of congressional legislation. He's famous, and Wednesday night he became one of Mrs. Bush's guests at the State of the Union speech.
How Rex landed such a coveted seat - actually a spot in the aisle labeled "Rex" on the official seating chart - is quite a tale.
His owner, Air Force Tech Sgt. Jamie Dana, awoke in a military hospital last summer badly injured by a bomb in Iraq and crying for her bomb-sniffing dog. Someone told her Rex was dead.
Later, Dana found out that wasn't true. But it would take an act of Congress before she could take him home to Pennsylvania.
The Air Force said it had spent $18,000 training Rex and that, by statute, he needed to finish the remaining five years of his useful life before he could be adopted. Dana's congressman, Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., helped abolish that policy in an end-of-year defense bill, the White House said.
No less interesting were the other guests of Republicans and Democrats, ranging from parents of fallen soldiers to the mayor of Washington to survivors and rescue personnel from Hurricane Katrina.
Also in Mrs. Bush's box were the family of Marine Staff Sgt. Dan Clay, 27, who was killed Dec. 1 in Fallujah.
Democrats offered a gallery seat to Benny Rousselle, president of Plaqemines Parish, La., which was heavily damaged by Katrina.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1151AP_State_of_Union_Sheehan.html
What Really Happened
By Cindy Sheehan
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Wednesday 01 February 2006
As most of you have probably heard, I was arrested before the State of the Union address last night.
I am speechless with fury at what happened and with grief over what we have lost in our country.
There have been lies from the police([search]) and distortions by the press (shocker). So this is what really happened:
This afternoon at the People's State of the Union Address in DC, where I was joined by Congresspersons Lynn Woolsey and John Conyers, Ann Wright, Malik Rahim and John Cavanagh, Lynn brought me a ticket to the State of the Union address. At that time, I was wearing the shirt that said: 2245 Dead. How many more?
After the PSOTU press conference, I was having second thoughts about going to the SOTU at the Capitol. I didn't feel comfortable going. I knew George Bush would say things that would hurt me and anger me, and I knew that I couldn't disrupt the address because Lynn had given me the ticket, and I didn't want to be disruptive out of respect for her. I, in fact, had given the ticket to John Bruhns, who is in Iraq([search]) Veterans Against the War. However, Lynn's office had already called the media, and everyone knew I was going to be there, so I sucked it up and went.
I got the ticket back from John, and I met one of Congresswoman Barbara Lee's staffers in the Longworth Congressional Office building and we went to the Capitol via the underground tunnel. I went through security once, then had to use the rest room and went through security again.
My ticket was in the 5th gallery, front row, fourth seat in. The person who in a few minutes was to arrest me, helped me to my seat.
I had just sat down and I was warm from climbing 3 flights of stairs back up from the bathroom so I unzipped my jacket. I turned to the right to take my left arm out, when the same officer saw my shirt and yelled, "Protester." He then ran over to me, hauled me out of my seat, and roughly (with my hands behind my back) shoved me up the stairs. I said something like "I'm going, do you have to be so rough?" By the way, his name is Mike Weight.
The officer ran with me to the elevators, yelling at everyone to move out of the way. When we got to the elevators, he cuffed me and took me outside to await a squad car. On the way out, someone behind me said, "That's Cindy Sheehan." At which point the officer who arrested me said, "Take these steps slowly." I said, "You didn't care about being careful when you were dragging me up the other steps." He said, "That's because you were protesting." Wow, I got hauled out of the People's House because I was "Protesting."
I was never told that I couldn't wear that shirt into the Congress. I was never asked to take it off or zip my jacket back up. If I had been asked to do any of those things ... I would have, and written about the suppression of my freedom of speech later. I was immediately and roughly (I have the bruises and muscle spasms to prove it) hauled off and arrested for "unlawful conduct."
After I had my personal items inventoried and my fingers printed, a nice Sgt. came in and looked at my shirt and said, "2245, huh? I just got back from there."
I told him that my son died there. That's when the enormity of my loss hit me. I have lost my son. I have lost my First Amendment rights. I have lost the country that I love. Where did America go? I started crying in pain.
What did Casey die for? What did the 2244 other brave young Americans die for? What are tens of thousands of them over there in harm's way for still? For this? I can't even wear a shirt that has the number of troops on it that George Bush and his arrogant and ignorant policies are responsible for killing.
I wore the shirt to make a statement. The press knew I was going to be there, and I thought every once in awhile they would show me, and I would have the shirt on. I did not wear it to be disruptive, or I would have unzipped my jacket during George's speech. If I had any idea what happens to people who wear shirts that make the neocons uncomfortable, that I would be arrested ... maybe I would have, but I didn't.
There have already been many wild stories out there.
I have some lawyers looking into filing a First Amendment lawsuit against the government for what happened tonight. I will file it. It is time to take our freedoms and our country back.
I don't want to live in a country that prohibits any person, whether or not he/she has paid the ultimate price for that country, from wearing, saying, writing, or telephoning any negative statements about the government. That's why I am going to take my freedoms and liberties back. That's why I am not going to let BushCo take anything else away from me ... or you.
I am so appreciative of the couple of hundred of protesters who came to the jail while I was locked up to show their support. We have so much potential for good. There is so much good in so many people.
Four hours and 2 jails after I was arrested, I was let out. Again, I am so upset and sore it is hard to think straight.
Keep up the struggle ... I promise you, I will too.
Go to Original
Sheehan Arrested before Speech
By Clarence Williams and Allan Lengel
The Washington Post
Wednesday 01 February 2006
Activist Cindy Sheehan was arrested last night after demonstrating in the spectators gallery of the House of Representatives as part of a larger war protest that was held outside the Capitol.
Sheehan, who was apparently given a gallery ticket by a member of Congress, began to attract notice about 30 minutes to an hour before President Bush's State of the Union speech.
Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq, opened her jacket to reveal a T-shirt that, according to a supporter, gave the number of U.S. war dead and asked, "How many more?"
She was also vocal, said U.S. Capitol Police Chief Terrance W. Gainer, and after she ignored instructions to close her jacket and quiet down, she was led out and arrested. Demonstrating in the House gallery is prohibited.
Sheehan's sister Dede Miller told a reporter that Rep. Lynn C. Woolsey (D-Calif.) had invited Sheehan as her guest. Woolsey could not be reached immediately for comment.
Late last night, about 50 protesters marched to the Capitol Police station to demand Sheehan's release. One of them was arrested. Miller said Sheehan was being processed early this morning.
Earlier last night, a band of banner-waving antiwar demonstrators clustered outside the Capitol and took the start of Bush's speech as a cue to let loose with an ear-splitting outburst of noise.
The group gathered at the statue of Ulysses S. Grant on the west side of the Capitol grounds for the protest, which was organized under the slogan of "The World Can't Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime."
At the moment when a nearby TV set showed Bush beginning his address in the House chamber, the protesters responded with bongo drums, maracas and whistles.
The protesters' Web site urged participants to "Bring the Noise and Drown out Bush's lies."
As the president concluded, the noise reached a peak as protesters banged pots and pans, shouting "Bush step down, people rise up."
At one point, demonstrators sang peace anthems of an earlier day, including "Give Peace a Chance" and "All You Need Is Love."
One of the speakers at the rally before the outbreak of tumult identified himself as Bill Mitchell and said his son, Army Sgt. Mike Mitchell, was killed in Baghdad in April 2004.
"We knew this war was wrong from the beginning," he said, "and we are not going to stop speaking" until the troops are brought home.
"We are going to demand that our government bring them home. We need to bring an end to this insanity," he said as the temperature fell and the wind gusted.
A speaker identified as Ann Wright, who had served in the State Department and as an Army officer, called on the protesters to organize for this year's congressional elections as a means of stopping the war. "We've got to put some spine into people who serve us right here," she said, pointing toward the Capitol.
Staff writer Martin Weil contributed to this report.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020106Z.shtml US activist arrested for anti-war shirt
Date: 01/02/06
Activist Cindy Sheehan was arrested in the House of Representatives chamber shortly before President George W Bush gave his State of the Union address because she refused to cover up an anti-war slogan on her shirt.
Sheehan, who was attending the speech as the guest of US Democratic Rep Lynn Woolsey of California, was taken from the Capitol in handcuffs and charged with unlawful conduct, said Capitol Police Sgt Kimberly Schneider.
A Reuters photographer said Sheehan entered the House gallery a few minutes before Bush was to speak and was directed to her seat.
She had been seated for less than a minute when a plainclothes Capitol Police officer took her by the arm, said, "You've got to leave," and rushed her from the gallery.
Sheehan did not resist and left with a smile. Rather than hearing Bush say in his speech that there would be no sudden US withdrawal from Iraq, Sheehan was being processed at the US Capitol Police headquarters near the Capitol.
Schneider said Sheehan was arrested because she was wearing a T-shirt with an anti-war slogan and refused to cover it up.
She said the unlawful conduct charge carries a maximum sentence of one year in jail.
Sheehan, who became a central figure for the US anti-war movement after her son Casey was killed in the Iraq war, won wide attention with an anti-war vigil outside Bush's Texas ranch.
Sheehan and other activists were arrested in September for protesting outside the White House without a permit, a misdemeanour that carries a $US50 ($A66) fine.
Copyright © 2006 REUTERS
http://seven.com.au/news/topstories/140207 Police remove Sheehan from Bush speech
By LAURIE KELLMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Cindy Sheehan finally got her invitation to see President Bush again, but before she set eyes on him at the State of the Union address, Capitol Police removed her from the gallery overlooking the House chamber.
The offense: her shirt, bearing an anti-war message and other "unlawful conduct," police said.
Sheehan, the mother of a fallen soldier in Iraq who reinvigorated the anti-war movement, was handcuffed and charged with unlawful conduct, according to Capitol Police Sgt. Kimberly Schneider. The charge was a misdemeanor and Sheehan was being released on her own recognizance, Schneider said.
Schneider said Sheehan had worn a T-shirt with an anti-war slogan to Tuesday night's speech and covered it up until she took her seat. Police warned her that such displays were not allowed in the House chamber, but she did not respond, the spokeswoman said.
Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., gave Sheehan her only ticket earlier in the day - Gallery 5, seat 7, row A - while Sheehan was attending an "alternative state of the union" news conference by CODEPINK, a group pushing for an end to the Iraq war.
"I'm proud that Cindy's my guest tonight," Woolsey said in an interview before the speech. "She has made a difference in the debate to bring our troops home from Iraq."
advertising
Sheehan, wrapped in a bright pink scarf against the cold, protested outside the White House with a handful of others before heading to the Capitol for Bush's speech. There were no cameras around, but the small band faced the executive mansion and shouted repeatedly, "You're evicted! Get out of our house!"
Sheehan was arrested in September with about 300 other anti-war activists in front of the White House after a weekend of protests against the war in Iraq. In August, she spent 26 days camped near Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, where he was spending a working vacation.
---
First lady Laura Bush's guests at her husband's annual address to Congress certainly were diverse. One, in fact, wasn't even human.
Rex, a 5-year-old German shepherd, fit in with the other Iraq war veterans who were guests of Republicans and Democrats.
Rex sniffed out bombs in Iraq. He's been the subject of congressional legislation. He's famous, and Wednesday night he became one of Mrs. Bush's guests at the State of the Union speech.
How Rex landed such a coveted seat - actually a spot in the aisle labeled "Rex" on the official seating chart - is quite a tale.
His owner, Air Force Tech Sgt. Jamie Dana, awoke in a military hospital last summer badly injured by a bomb in Iraq and crying for her bomb-sniffing dog. Someone told her Rex was dead.
Later, Dana found out that wasn't true. But it would take an act of Congress before she could take him home to Pennsylvania.
The Air Force said it had spent $18,000 training Rex and that, by statute, he needed to finish the remaining five years of his useful life before he could be adopted. Dana's congressman, Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., helped abolish that policy in an end-of-year defense bill, the White House said.
No less interesting were the other guests of Republicans and Democrats, ranging from parents of fallen soldiers to the mayor of Washington to survivors and rescue personnel from Hurricane Katrina.
Also in Mrs. Bush's box were the family of Marine Staff Sgt. Dan Clay, 27, who was killed Dec. 1 in Fallujah.
Democrats offered a gallery seat to Benny Rousselle, president of Plaqemines Parish, La., which was heavily damaged by Katrina.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1151AP_State_of_Union_Sheehan.html
Various
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