# Cindy Sheehan is a toolbag. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 1, 2006, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-sheehan-is-a-toolbag/342454 "2006-02-01T02:24:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-sheehan-is-a-toolbag/342454/181 "2006-02-02T00:00:36Z")
> [@Maureen](#): > > Which answers the question not at all. You are guaranteed the inalienable right to freedom of expression. You’re not guaranteed the inalienable right to blowing the head off anyone who pisses you off. Unless you happen to be President, that is. Or perhaps the Consitution is not the be all and end all of legislation? Can you show me where in the Consitution I can’t talk on a cell phone while driving? But I know there’s a section in Chicago’s laws that makes it illegal for me to do so. I think it answers **Dio** ’s question just fine. He should ask a better question if he wants a better answer. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-sheehan-is-a-toolbag/342454/182 "2006-02-02T00:01:23Z")
> [@Anne Neville](#): > > [The Capitol Police dropped the charges against Cindy Sheehan, and apologized.](http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/02/01/national/w151422S45.DTL) IIRC, there have been other cases during Bush speeches where folks have been arrested and detained, only to later have the charges dropped. I suspect the goal is to squealch dissent around the president, so by arresting and detaining but later saying “oops” they acheive what they set out to do. Can anyone help me with some cites? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-sheehan-is-a-toolbag/342454/183 "2006-02-02T00:02:47Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Wow. This is just so disturbing on so many levels. My guess is that you don’t live or work in DC, so you don’t have to put up with people disrupting traffic and shutting down the city for their pet cause, and also that you don’t work in regulatory law. True story. There’s an FCC rulemaking going on. It’s a technical matter… telephone carriers get a subsidy from the FCC for providing service in rural areas, and the FCC is trying to decide whether or not to change the way that government financial support is calculated for those carriers. So, as happens in every rulemaking, people and groups on both sides of the issue are filing documents that provide legal, scientific, economic, or whatever reasons that the Commission should or shouldn’t make the change. And since we have clients that serve rural areas, and they might be affected by the change, my boss sends me to check the FCC’s filing system to see what comments have been filed and what the arguments are. There’s a problem, though, because one of the sides of the debate is doing what’s sometimes called false grass roots or “astroturf” lobbying. They’ve set up a website that says, basically, “Greedy corporations are trying to convince the government to deny telephone service to rural areas. Fill out this webform and tell the FCC not to deny affordible telephone service to rural Americans.” So, you just put your name and address on the form, and it sends a comment to the FCC saying something like, “Dear FCC, I am a concerned citizen with a telephone. Please do not change the rural telephone universal service support mechanism and deny affordible telephone service to rural Americans.” So, if you go to the FCC’s filing system to check on comments relevant to the rulemaking that were filed by lawyers, phone companies, economists, and advocacy groups, all of whom have informed themselves on the issue at hand and have real arguments, they’re buried somewhere amongst 7000 copies of “Dear FCC, I am a concerned citizen with a telephone. Please do not change the rural telephone universal service support mechanism and deny affordible telephone service to rural Americans” filed by people who know nothing about Universal Service, rural telephone service, funding support mechanisms, and whose only contribution to the debate is a five minute electronic form and whose only information on the issue is biased fearmongering by one side. I stand by what I said before…these types of protests and grass roots action in many cases aren’t constructive, just disruptive, and gets in the way of real debate by educated people and established political channels on the issue. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-sheehan-is-a-toolbag/342454/184 "2006-02-02T00:02:49Z")
> [@kidchameleon](#): > > Or perhaps the Consitution is not the be all and end all of legislation? Can you show me where in the Consitution I can’t talk on a cell phone while driving? But I know there’s a section in Chicago’s laws that makes it illegal for me to do so. I think it answers **Dio** ’s question just fine. He should ask a better question if he wants a better answer. Did you hear the latest? That the police are not only not charging her but apologizing? Because there is no law forbidding wearing t-shirts in the House of Representatives. Really! You should check it out. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-sheehan-is-a-toolbag/342454/185 "2006-02-02T00:08:43Z")
> [@kidchameleon](#): > > Or perhaps the Consitution is not the be all and end all of legislation? Can you show me where in the Consitution I can’t talk on a cell phone while driving? But I know there’s a section in Chicago’s laws that makes it illegal for me to do so. I think it answers **Dio** ’s question just fine. He should ask a better question if he wants a better answer. Actually, I rather think it is. That’s why the highest court in our country is dedicated to upholding it. Our constitutional rights pretty much trump everything else. In fact, if they’re not upheld, the case is thrown out and charges are dropped. That’s why they’re, you know, _inalienable_. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-sheehan-is-a-toolbag/342454/186 "2006-02-02T00:21:12Z")
> [@kidchameleon](#): > > Please show me where in the Consitution it says I can’t shoot my neighbor. What the hell kind of non sequitor is this? There’s no right to shoot people in the Constitution! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-sheehan-is-a-toolbag/342454/187 "2006-02-02T00:25:05Z")
Sheehan is an idiot, but this is probably exactly what she wanted. She gets more publicity!! Maybe she’ll be stupid enough to take up her threat to run against Feinstein. That would be fun to watch. ---
**Author:** ![Exploding\_Kitchen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Exploding\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exploding_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-sheehan-is-a-toolbag/342454/188 "2006-02-02T00:53:44Z")
I’m trying to figure out exactly when people will realize that the quashing of dissent is much bigger than one crazy lady. The fact that the Capitol Police also removed another person that wasn’t even wearing a protest t-shirt is scary, when there are no laws against it. Catch and release is fun, but that’s for fishing, not for detaining to quash dissent. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-sheehan-is-a-toolbag/342454/189 "2006-02-02T01:05:54Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > Sheehan is an idiot, but this is probably exactly what she wanted. She gets more publicity!! Maybe she’ll be stupid enough to take up her threat to run against Feinstein. That would be fun to watch. Sadly, you’re probably right. _sigh_ I don’t think the woman should have been arrested, but she really gets on my nerves. It seems she wants media attention more than she wants to actually do something. Hasn’t her family distanced themselves from her, saying she’s had a breakdown of sorts? I do hope she gets help. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-sheehan-is-a-toolbag/342454/190 "2006-02-02T01:10:36Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > My guess is that you don’t live or work in DC, so you don’t have to put up with people disrupting traffic and shutting down the city for their pet cause I live near San Francisco (they do that here, too), and I don’t like them, either. (Nor do I understand _why_ blocking traffic would be beneficial to their cause, whatever that might be) But I think they’re a necessary evil. I’d much rather be inconvenienced by having to find alternate routes to drive around protesters than worry about being arrested for wearing a T-shirt supporting the ‘wrong’ cause. [It’s wrong when a teacher persecutes a student for wearing the ‘wrong’ jersey](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=355658&highlight=idiot+teacher+strikes), and it’s at least as wrong when the Capitol Police arrest someone for wearing the ‘wrong’ T-shirt. Freedom of speech is one of the things that makes this country great. There’s a problem with requiring people to have informed opinions on a subject before debating it in the public sphere, too. There’s no objective standard for how informed someone is on a given issue. Someone would have to decide which opinions are informed and which aren’t, and there’s a chance for all kinds of bias to slip in in that process, consciously or unconsciously. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-sheehan-is-a-toolbag/342454/191 "2006-02-02T01:18:24Z")
That was pretty. I think I like the undertaker’s voice the best of all the guys so far. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-sheehan-is-a-toolbag/342454/192 "2006-02-02T01:21:32Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > That was pretty. I think I like the undertaker’s voice the best of all the guys so far. Whoa! Totally wrong thread! ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-sheehan-is-a-toolbag/342454/193 "2006-02-02T01:35:39Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > My guess is that you don’t live or work in DC, so you don’t have to put up with people disrupting traffic and shutting down the city for their pet cause, and also that you don’t work in regulatory law. I have worked in DC at intervals, and I agree with **Otto**. This is disturbing on a shitload of levels. > [@](#): > > True story. There’s an FCC rulemaking going on. It’s a technical matter… telephone carriers get a subsidy from the FCC for providing service in rural areas, and the FCC is trying to decide whether or not to change the way that government financial support is calculated for those carriers. So, as happens in every rulemaking, people and groups on both sides of the issue are filing documents that provide legal, scientific, economic, or whatever reasons that the Commission should or shouldn’t make the change. And since we have clients that serve rural areas, and they might be affected by the change, my boss sends me to check the FCC’s filing system to see what comments have been filed and what the arguments are. > > There’s a problem, though, because one of the sides of the debate is doing what’s sometimes called false grass roots or “astroturf” lobbying. They’ve set up a website that says, basically, “Greedy corporations are trying to convince the government to deny telephone service to rural areas. Fill out this webform and tell the FCC not to deny affordible telephone service to rural Americans.” > > So, you just put your name and address on the form, and it sends a comment to the FCC saying something like, “Dear FCC, I am a concerned citizen with a telephone. Please do not change the rural telephone universal service support mechanism and deny affordible telephone service to rural Americans.” > > So, if you go to the FCC’s filing system to check on comments relevant to the rulemaking that were filed by lawyers, phone companies, economists, and advocacy groups, all of whom have informed themselves on the issue at hand and have real arguments, they’re buried somewhere amongst 7000 copies of “Dear FCC, I am a concerned citizen with a telephone. Please do not change the rural telephone universal service support mechanism and deny affordible telephone service to rural Americans” filed by people who know nothing about Universal Service, rural telephone service, funding support mechanisms, and whose only contribution to the debate is a five minute electronic form and whose only information on the issue is biased fearmongering by one side. > > I stand by what I said before…these types of protests and grass roots action in many cases aren’t constructive, just disruptive, and gets in the way of real debate by educated people and established political channels on the issue. If “the fucking protesters on both the left and the right” “shut the hell up and let the established political system work,” you know who’ll be running things, even more than they already are? The people behind those Astroturf campaigns, that’s who. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-sheehan-is-a-toolbag/342454/194 "2006-02-02T01:36:35Z")
Now that was weird: > [@](#): > > “We screwed up,” a top Capitol Police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. > > He said Sheehan didn’t violate any rules or laws. That line on the article is gone now. The quote was also on an image in the front page of MSNBC and now the line was removed from the article, in any case, it is true: [http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11120353/](http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11120353/) > [@](#): > > “The officers made a good faith, but mistaken effort to enforce an old unwritten interpretation of the prohibitions about demonstrating in the Capitol,” Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer said in a statement late Wednesday. > > “The policy and procedures were too vague,” he added. “The failure to adequately prepare the officers is mine.” > > The extraordinary statement came a day after police removed Sheehan and Beverly Young, wife of Rep. C.W. “Bill” Young, R-Fla., from the visitors gallery Tuesday night. Sheehan was taken away in handcuffs before Bush’s arrival at the Capitol and charged with a misdemeanor, while Young left the gallery and therefore was not arrested, Gainer said. > > “Neither guest should have been confronted about the expressive T-shirts,” Gainer’s statement said. > > Apology to the Youngs > Gainer added that he was asking the U.S. attorney’s office to drop the charge against Sheehan. The statement also said he apologized to the Youngs and “share the department’s plans for avoiding this in the future.” > > “A similar message has been left with Mrs. Sheehan,” Gainer said. > > For his part, Bill Young said he was not necessarily satisfied. > > “My wife was humiliated,” he told reporters. He suggested that “sensitivity training” may be in order for Capitol Police. > > … > > Different messages expressed > Sheehan’s T-shirt alluded to the number of soldiers killed in Iraq: “2245 Dead. How many more?” Capitol Police charged her with a misdemeanor for violating the District of Columbia’s code against unlawful or disruptive conduct on any part of the Capitol grounds, a law enforcement official said. She was released from custody and flew home Wednesday to Los Angeles. > > Young’s shirt had a message with a different tone: “Support the Troops — Defending Our Freedom.” > > “They said I was protesting,” Young told the St. Petersburg Times. “I said, ‘Read my shirt, it is not a protest.’ They said, ‘We consider that a protest.’ I said, ‘Then you are an idiot.”’ ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-sheehan-is-a-toolbag/342454/195 "2006-02-02T01:40:50Z")
> [@Exploding Kitchen](#): > > I’m trying to figure out exactly when people will realize that the quashing of dissent is much bigger than one crazy lady. > > The fact that the Capitol Police also removed another person that wasn’t even wearing a protest t-shirt is scary, when there are no laws against it. > > Catch and release is fun, but that’s for fishing, not for detaining to quash dissent. Indeed. And there’s been [a lot of that sort of catch-and-release lately](http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/6500.html): > [@](#): > > - In August 2004, John Prather, a mild-mannered math professor at Ohio University, was removed by security from a presidential event on public property because he wore a shirt that promoted John Kerry. > > - On July 4, 2004, Nicole and Jeff Rank were arrested at a Bush event in West Virginia for wearing T-shirts that criticized the president. (About the same time the Ranks were being taken away in handcuffs, Bush was reminding the audience, “On this 4th of July, we confirm our love of freedom, the freedom for people to speak their minds.” Gotta love irony.) > > - In August 2004, campaign workers removed a family from a presidential event in Michigan because one woman, a 50-year-old chemist, carried in a rolled-up T-shirt emblazoned with a pro-choice slogan. She later said, “I just wanted to see my president,” and brought the extra shirt in case she got cold. > > - In July 2004, Jayson Nelson, a county supervisor in Appleton, Wis., was thrown out of a presidential event because of a pro-Kerry T-shirt. An event staffer saw the shirt, snatched the VIP ticket, and called for police. “Look at his shirt! Look at his shirt!” Nelson recalled the woman telling the Ashwaubenon Public Safety officer who answered the call. Nelson said the officer told him, “You gotta go,” and sternly directed him to a Secret Service contingent that spent seven or eight minutes checking him over before ejecting him from the property. > > - In October 2004, three Oregon schoolteachers were removed from a Bush event and threatened with arrest for wearing t-shirts that said “Protect Our Civil Liberties.” > > In each instance, the “accused” had tickets to see the president. Moreover, none were disturbing the peace, disrupting the event, or causing a ruckus. Their crime was their shirt. Spuriously arresting protesters, then freeing them a few hours later without charging them, is a great trouble-free way of suppressing protest. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-sheehan-is-a-toolbag/342454/196 "2006-02-02T01:45:30Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > Sheehan is an idiot, but this is probably exactly what she wanted. She gets more publicity!! Maybe she’ll be stupid enough to take up her threat to run against Feinstein. That would be fun to watch. Sheehan may be an idiot, but the rights to free speech, peaceable assembly, petition for redress of grievances, etc. don’t just belong to those worthy of our approval; they belong to _all_ of us, or ultimately they can be taken away from all of us. To me, that’s a far bigger concern than whether Sheehan’s an idiot. Should be true for you too. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-sheehan-is-a-toolbag/342454/197 "2006-02-02T02:03:36Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I’m not an expert in House rules, so I can’t cite you a rule. I’ll take the Capitol Police reports just cited as enough evidence that there isn’t a specific rule against wearing t-shirts. > > If there isn’t a rule against such a thing, then it looks like the Capitol Police goofed up in sending both Sheehan and Mrs. Young out of the galleries. See my post #195. Do you think they ‘goofed’? Once is happenstance, twice coincidence, and six times is a freakin’ _conspiracy_. And that’s just _t-shirts_. > [@](#): > > However, I would still maintain that if the House wanted to make a blanket rule against observers wearing political slogans while in the galleries – whether it is “stop the war,” “support the troops,” “vote Republican,” or whatever – I think it’s perfectly fine to establish standards of decorum in places like courtrooms, the chambers of Congress, the White House, and so on. If they want to do that, that’s fine. But this business of detaining people who haven’t violated any laws, just to get their inconvenient protests out of the way, has got to end. And this business of restricting protesters to “free speech zones” further and further from whoever or whatever they’re protesting, has also got to go. _The whole freakin’ country_ is a “free speech zone,” and _I want it back_. > [@](#): > > What I don’t think is fair to say is what Crooks and Liars stated, namely, that “It was a blatant attempt to control the environment where our fearless leader appears as usual.” Again, see post #195. > [@](#): > > I fail to see how if that is the case, why Mrs. Young would be thrown out, too. Was Mrs. Young a threat to the environment of the fearless leader? Hardly! Maybe, just _maybe_, they realized someone might notice the inconsistency if they took Sheehan away but left Young there, wearing her politically correct T-shirt, given the high profile of the event. Ya think? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-sheehan-is-a-toolbag/342454/198 "2006-02-02T02:36:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Maybe, just _maybe_, they realized someone might notice the inconsistency if they took Sheehan away but left Young there, wearing her politically correct T-shirt, given the high profile of the event. Ya think? Apparently they said just about that to Young: > [@](#): > > Beverly Young was sitting about six rows from first lady Laura Bush and was asked to leave. She argued with police in the hallway outside the House chamber. > > “They said I was protesting,” she told the St. Petersburg Times. “I said, ‘Read my shirt, it is not a protest.’ They said, ‘We consider that a protest.’ I said, ‘Then you are an idiot.”’ > > They told her she was being treated the same as Sheehan, who was ejected before the speech. The quoted text used to be [here](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11120353/), but the newest version of the article no longer has that text. (I’ve still got the earlier version on my laptop, though.) ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-sheehan-is-a-toolbag/342454/199 "2006-02-02T02:48:23Z")
> [@Anne Neville](#): > > [The Capitol Police dropped the charges against Cindy Sheehan, and apologized.](http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/02/01/national/w151422S45.DTL) They’re lucky it wan’t someone spiteful, like me. I would file formal complaints and maybe a lawsuit for false arrest, false imprisonment, unlawful detainment, whatever a clever attorney could come up with. I guess the reason they dropped the charges was, they couldn’t find any law that had been violated. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-sheehan-is-a-toolbag/342454/200 "2006-02-02T02:53:41Z")
> [@NurseCarmen](#): > > IIRC, there have been other cases during Bush speeches where folks have been arrested and detained, only to later have the charges dropped. I suspect the goal is to squealch dissent around the president, so by arresting and detaining but later saying “oops” they acheive what they set out to do. > > Can anyone help me with some cites? New York City… free speech zones, a "dragnet and lots of arrests. It was a big stink for about 5 minutes and then got forgotten. I think it was during the primaries (?) Side comment to John Mace - Sheehan may run against Feinstein. If she does, I predict Feinstein will crush her. Feinstein has a record as a moderate-to-liberal Dem, and years of experience. I’d say she is damn near bulletproof right now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-sheehan-is-a-toolbag/342454.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-sheehan-is-a-toolbag/342454.md?page=11)