I’m from Massachusetts, so i might have a bit of insight on this situation.
First of all, i was under the impression that the (Republican controlled?) Secret Service was resposible for the security for both the DNC in Boston and the RNC in New York City. A couple of local talk radio hosts have been examining this issue for months: Why is security so much tighter at the DNC than the RNC if security is being handled by the same group for both conventions?
As for the banner:
Is he being singled out, because of the message, and being fined with some seldom used law? If so, i’ll be the first to jump to his defense. Either the law applies to everyone or no one. Selective enforcement is anti-liberty.
Is he being cited for a safety violation? Last year, a nightclub fire in Rhode Island killed 100 people. New Englanders are currently very aware of safety concerns. I wouldn’t be surprised if regulations have been tightened within the last year, especially with the heightened concerns with terrorism, so that even minor infractions are dealt with. If this is the case, then there is no violation of civil rights and he is not being treated unfairly.
Is he being cited for a permit violation that everyone else is cited for? If so, it’s the law you must complain about, not this particular case.
A Republican speaking out against injustices done to a Dem-basher? Not very improbable. I doubt he’s a huge champion for civil rights.
A business owner overwhelmed with the idiocy of DNC security? Fine, just don’t blame it on the wrong people.
“Help! Help! I’m being oppressed!”
As he stated on C-Span (see the OP) and as the Boston Globe reported, he received two citations: one was for “hanging an unlicensed banner” — he had no permit to hang the sign. The other was for blocking an egress, a gated door which, as I said, led nowhere and was unused. Also, as I said, the sign was made of 3 or 4 mil poly, like a trash bag. It wasn’t like it could have stopped someone from getting out even if the door were ungated.
Exactly. None of those things are about the content of the sign. They are all minor infractions, and he’s trying to get out of it instead of just obeying the law. We don’t care what the sign is made of, say the cops. We have a law here, and you have to move the damn sign. Also, the door does lead somewhere. I’ve seen the picture. It leads to a place called “OUTSIDE” which might be important if there was a fire and the other door was blocked. As for polymer, if the guy bolted it up (as he says), it can’t be that flimsy. It’s not tissue paper. In any case, if he’s blocking a door, the rule he’s breaking is about blocking the damned door. If he just moves the sign, everybody’s happy. If he needs a license, then he should get one. Nobody told him he couldn’t have a sign up. They said he had to observe minor rules while putting it up. Also, as I have said repeatedly, and you have ignored (I use all caps now
THE SIGN IS STILL UP
(and)
HE WAS NOT PUNISHED
How does this constitute “being silenced.” The bullies come in and tell him to move the sign an inch and get a license or else… NOTHING. They just ask him to do it, like a fucking citizen, and he refuses, because he’s a drama queen.
It’s like me screaming “fuck Bush!” while driving on the wrong side of the lane, and calling it a free speech issue when I get pulled over. If I yelled FUCK KERRY! I’d be a folk hero with the partisan hacks on the right, I reckon.
Ordinarilly, a citation is considered a punishment, isn’t it? At least, that’s how I felt when I got one. And he got two. The sign is still up because he has elected, in the tradition of liberals like Henry David Thoreau, to exercise civil disobedience. Why you do not applaud him is a mystery.
Do you think the law takes into account the flimsiness of the sign? Or do you have evidence that they usually ignore flimsy signs, and are selectively enforcing the law against this guy?
I’m from Boston, and you don’t realize what agang of thugs the local Democratic party can be! If you EVER hang a banner on your premises criticizing the Democrats, the mayor (Mumbles Menino) will sic the City Inspectional Dept. on you!
You will also be visited by the inspector of wires, the plumbing dept., etc. You will be cited for all kinds of violations - one poor foll who hung a Bush sign in his window was closeddown (for health code violations-he had some peeling paint on the ceiling of his men’s room).
The "dictatorship of the prolotariat " is no so benign as the Dems would have you believe! So, shut your mouth and take it, mr. pizza shop owner! Be grateful you aren’t fined $300/day!
Aw, give the Dems a break. At least they’ve come around on the issue of vouchers. Heck, if they like the lower costs, less bureaucracy, and solution to the queueing problem enough they might someday even let people use them to escape bad schools!
Even so, neither one of these things is related to the content of the sign. How hard is it to fill out the form for a permit? Is there anything stopping him from getting a license. More to the point, is this an ordinance which is enforced exclusively against signs critical to Democrats or is it just typical, aggravating red tape that everyone has to go through for any kind of sign? I suspect the latter. It sounds like a pretty minor thing. “Dude, you have to fill out a permit for that or you might get fined…oh, and move it away from the door.”
You really haven’t shown that he is being censored for content. At most, the city of Boston may have a cumbersome policy regarding signs, but that’s a local beaurocratic issue, not a partisan one.
To make this fly, you’re going to have to show that he was somehow singled out in an atypical way for what the sign actually says, rather than it’s mere physical existence. Can you show that the same thing would not have happened for a Bud Ice sign ir a banner saying “Welcome Delegates?”
