Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Man Arrested for Telling Cheney His Iraq Policies are Reprehensible

Since I'm sure Bush would do what Cheney wants, Cheney now has the power to declare you an enemy combatant, detain you, and torture you, and if you're not a US citizen there's no legal review. But its okay, he wouldn't abuse such power. If Cheney was making a public appearance and you said you didn't like his policies, nothing would happen to you, I mean that's protected free speech isn't it? You wouldn't be arrested for that, right? Wrong.

"Attorney David Lane said that on June 16, Steve Howards was walking his 7-year-old son to a piano practice, when he saw Cheney surrounded by a group of people in an outdoor mall area, shaking hands and posing for pictures with several people."

"According to the lawsuit filed at U.S. District Court in Denver, Howards and his son walked to about two-to-three feet from where Cheney was standing, and said to the vice president, "I think your policies in Iraq are reprehensible," or words to that effect, then walked on."

"Ten minutes later, according to Howards' lawsuit, he and his son were walking back through the same area, when they were approached by Secret Service agent Virgil D. "Gus" Reichle Jr., who asked Howards if he had "assaulted" the vice president. Howards denied doing so, but was nonetheless placed in handcuffs and taken to the Eagle County Jail."

The lawsuit is against the secret service agent, Cheney probably had no knowledge of what happened (though I guess he could have given standing orders for how to deal with hecklers) but the law is supposed to protect people from abuses of power at any level. Who else would Bush grant his powers to?

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