There are days when I thank my lucky guns for law enforcement. And whoever's been setting priorities down at the Maryland precincts needs a very hearty pat on the back. Bad apples like ol' Alan in the story below threaten the very fabric of our society. One can only wish that Maryland were a bit more like Texas where rabble-rousers like Alan get the electric chair (the kind where they zap ya a couple times just to wake you up before putting you out of your misery.) Selling anti-Bush buttons. Next thing you know people will be walking around public places expressin' themselves as if they were in a French coffeeshop or a Korean teahouse. Plain Unamerikan if you ask me. Well, here's the story. Judge fer yerself.
74-year-old Alan McConnell was arrested this weekend and charged with trespassing, after police said he was selling "Impeach Him" buttons without permission. McConnell has sold the anti-Bush buttons at a Maryland farmers' market for months.
Officials said that the incident has nothing to do with politics, but that they feared McConnell and his supporters were becoming a safety hazard. As he was being arrested, about 40 McConnell supporters booed and yelled "Free speech!"
Some of the market vendors say that all the controversy may actually help business. "The excitement has certainly brought a lot more people here, but not all of them are buying," one said. "Hopefully, the protesters today will come tomorrow to buy."
8 comments:
There is no free speech in this country. It is a sham
I actually read some of the articles. It appears that the guy was arrested because he refused to buy a vendor's license for the farmer's market. If he'd just given away the buttons, they wouldn't have arrested him. But if the farmer's market allows anybody to sell stuff without paying the vendor fee, they have to allow everybody to sell stuff for free, and they're out of business since the vendor's license is what pays for the necessary cleaning/sanitation/setup/teardown/security needed to run a farmer's market.
In short, this isn't a free speech case. This is a case where a vendor refused to pay his fees for selling stuff at the farmer's market, and thus got cited for trespassing and evicted from the premesis, and when he refused to go, arrested for trespass. The free speech angle might sell newspapers, But it just ain't true. The same thing woulda happened if he'd been selling rutabagas without a vendor's license. Hell, if he'd been selling rutabagas without a license, he probably woulda gotten pitched outta the market even sooner. Do you think rutabagas are a free speech issue?!
- Badtux the Free Speech Penguin
Everything is a free speech issue! Just like Penguins!
Would the authorities have bothered if he had been selling rutabagas?
His choice of not having a vending license was stupid though, it takes away some of the bite.
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Oops, anyway, a "thinking blogger" award.
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Yesssss. I like awards.
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