RNC and the Central Park rally permit
Judge to rule Monday in ANSWER/NCA lawsuit for rally permit
The drama of the free speech battle in New York City riveted the attention of a packed courtroom filled with supporters and media today as the attorneys for the National Council of Arab Americans and the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition exposed the shifting rationales given by the City of New York for the denial of permits in Central Park as nothing but a pretext to silence opponents of the Bush administration’s domestic and foreign policies.
ANSWER said, if granted the permit, they would merge their rally, scheduled for this Saturday Aug 29, with the UfJP march on Aug 29. The judge then asked New York City officials why they aren’t accepting this deal! So, it looks quite a lot more promising for a permit than it did just a few days ago. The judge rules on Monday.
Republicans brace for protests
President Bush’s “advisers said they were girding for the most extensive street demonstrations at any political convention since the Democrats nominated Hubert H. Humphrey in Chicago in 1968,” the New York Times reports.
“But in contrast to that convention, which was severely undermined by televised displays of street rioting, Republicans said they would seek to turn any disruptions to their advantage, by portraying protests by even independent activists as Democratic-sanctioned displays of disrespect for a sitting president.”
The current President richly deserves, and has certainly earned, all the disrespect that is coming to him. “Authority will be respected when authority is respectable.”