Lone pro-Obama demonstrator arrested at Board of Ed. Get this:

Smarmie Doofus

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Thu Sep-10-09 10:56 PM
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Lone pro-Obama demonstrator arrested at Board of Ed. Get this:

Edited on Thu Sep-10-09 11:01 PM by Smarmie Doofus

the upstate NY ( Orange County - yikes!) small town cops said he needed a "permit" to stand on the sidewalk with a placard. He was razzing the educrats who caved to the RW and refused to show the President's "back to school" address.

Thanks to Ben for letting me post this and good luck in court tomorrow.

>>>>It was a bit of a twisted journey that ended for me today in handcuffs at the Goshen police station.
It began last Saturday with an article in the Times Herald Record reporting that under pressure from a small but vocal group of right-wingers most school districts in our area would not be carrying the president's back-to-school pep talk live. I was especially upset that my district, Newburgh, would be passing the buck down to the classroom level where each teacher would decide for himself whether or not to show the address.

I thought that would be a terrible way to handle the "controversy" since it put teachers in a damned-if-you- do-damned- if-you-don' t position. Some parents would be upset if the teacher showed the speech, others if the teacher refused to show it. But even more to the point, it troubled me that in a mostly Black and Hispanic district like Newburgh some kids, because of their teacher's personal politics or because of their teacher's caving in to political pressure from others, would miss out an historic address by a potentially powerful role model.

Also, I'm just sick and tired of having our national discourse hijacked by the oligarchs and the jack-booted mobs they've inflamed.

So I planned to protest outside the Newburgh Board of Ed this afternoon during the time when Obama's speech would be conspicuously absent from many classrooms. But not wanting to go off half-cocked with my only information coming from a newspaper story, I asked some friends who work in Newburgh schools if in fact the report was accurate. When they gave me conflicting answers, I decided to call the Board of Ed as soon as they opened this morning to get the story right from the superintendent' s mouth.
but of course, being the first day of class, things were hectic at the board and I had to wait for a call back.

I used the time to call other districts and ask how they were handling the matter. To my chagrin, most were taping the speech for possible showing at a later date at the teacher's discretion. But Goshen, according to the district's website, was not going to give the speech any airing at all. Instead, they were merely going to provide a link on their site to allow parents to watch the speech together with their children, presumably in the comfort of their own homes.

It occurred as I sat simmering in front of my computer ( not an at all unusual state of affairs these days) that the kids in upper middle class white districts would benefit every bit as much, if not in some ways more, from hearing the first Black president speaking directly to them than the kids in Newburgh. As much as young inner-city kids needs role models, kids whose parents channel Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter every night at the dinner table need to have their prejudices challenged and the stereo-types debunked.

So I grabbed my trusty magic marker and scribble SHAME ON GOSHEN SHOOLS FOR NOT AIRING PRESIDENT OBAMA'S SPEECH onto a 24 by 30 inch white signboard and headed off to the Goshen Board of Ed.

I positioned myself on the street corner nearest the Board office building and held up my sign for passing motorists and the occasional pedestrian to see.

It's hard to quantify the response to my one-man demonstration, but i would guess that 80% ignored me, 15% gave me honks and thumbs up , 4% thumbs down, and the remainder registered their opinion by using an entirely different finger.

But all in all, things went smoothly for about 45 minutes. Then a cop on a bike came along,

The officer asked me if I had a permit to display a placard on the street. I told him that I didn't think that one was needed; that my protest was protected by the first-amendment. He then informed me that the village of Goshen required all protestors to obtain permission from the Town clerk and that he was sure that I would be granted such permission if I requested it. I told him that I would not want permission even if it were granted since merely asking for it was in itself a recognition of the village's legitimacy in requiring it the first place.

At that point a rather serious looking police sergeant pulled up in police car. He told me leave at once or be arrested. I chose the latter option.

I was handcuffed and driven to the police station where I was handcuffed to a bench.and asked lots of questions while an officer typed up a report. Afer an hour or so, I was released with an order to appear in Goshen Town Court tomorrow.

In fairness to the police officers, they were professional and respectful in the way the carried out their perceived duties. I hold no grudge against them.

But I will not be so tolerant of the judge tomorrow if he does anything other dismiss my case absolutely. No warnings to behave. No lectures. If the judge so much as mentions the requirement of a permit, I will tell him in the clearest possible terms that such an requirement is unconstitutional. Let the chips fall where they may.

To those of you, if any, who have read this far down, thanks for letting me get this stuff off my chest. To the rest of you, I admire your good judgement.

Bennett<<<<<<<