Protest Pit

It seems that the Bush Administration wants to limit where protestors can gather.  The Mall is traditionally the place where demonstrators have rallied for such ideals as free speech.  See Washington Post article here.  hmmmm…

Recently in San Antonio, they have been trying to limit where demonstrators my gather as well.  hmmm…

When we allow them to shuffle us off to the side, it is a small step to eliminating our right to assemble at all.  Remember that frog…

ImpeachBush.org has a form you can fill out to send your message to the National Park service (the agency involved in this development) that you support free speech and the right to assemble at the Mall as is traditional.

In an email I received from ImpeachBush.org, they said:

The NPS has set up a “public-private” partnership that allows business interests and real estate developers — in coordination with the government — to determine the future of the National Mall. The Jan. 12 public meeting was intended to have low attendance to allow the government to claim public involvement while simultaneously excluding it. When confronted with the fact that they had done no legitimate outreach about the public meeting to the hundreds of thousands of people who have actually used the National Mall, the President of the Trust for the National Mall responded that she had sent notice to the Board of Trade!  The NPS issues 3,000 permits a year for the use of the National Mall, but there has been no effort to notify any of those organizations about the proposed changes. Their attempt to exclude people from this process could not be more clear.

I personally think this is insult to injury.  Take away our traditional place of assembly and turn it into a commercial enterprise…