There’s
nothing new about it, no new angle or twist that I can spin. And I’ve written
about it before—about
the absurdity of the Wisconsin State Capitol police telling tourists who are
watching the lunch sing-along in the capitol rotunda that they are subject to
arrest. Or how about the 80-year old lady who gets
handcuffed and led away, still singing away? Or the Vietnam vet who falls on the marble
staircase onto his back and his handcuffed wrists? That’s an ouch.
And I
questioned before—why are they using metal cuff, or even cuffs at all? When we
were all protesting
in Vieques, the cops used plastic “cuffs”—really just high-quality plastic
bands. Why? They didn’t want any martyrs.
The protests have
been going on for a couple of years, ever since Walker and
his fellow Republicans stripped
government workers of their right to bargain collectively and turned back
the clock a couple of centuries on social issues. So every weekday the
protesters gather and sing
in the capitol rotunda. Here’s a photo taken a couple of days ago.
And you
will remember that Walker—via the Department of Administration—changed the
permit process from a two-page form to a 25-page document, and declared
that any group of four or more people needed to have a permit to meet in the
state capitol.
Warning to
any family of mom, dad, and two kids—you could be arrested for walking through
the state capitol.
OK—a judge,
in a preliminary injunction—upped the
number to 20, and will rule on the constitutionality of the whole business
later. Remember, please, that both the First
Amendment of the US Constitution and a similar section in
the state’s Constitution allows for the right of people “peaceably to assemble
and to petition their Government for a redress of grievances.” So in addition
to the regular singers, tourists and interested others can see the group
below—wonderfully called “Raging Grannies.”
The Raging Grannies of Madison, Wisconsin, by the way, have a wonderful little website about their group, which is ten years old. Here’s a quote from the site:
We are a
"dis-organization" without formal leadership. Each Granny does what
she can and we make decisions by consensus. As it says on the Raging Grannies
International website at http://raginggrannies.org/, "We are totally non-violent,
believe in only peaceful protest (with lots of laughter), work for the 'many
not the few' … and see our work as the spreading green branches of a great
tree, rising up to provide shelter and nourishment for those who will come
after us." That's true -- but we Grannies also want to have fun, refuse to
be silenced, and will sing out against those things that harm the planet we
will leave to our grandkids.
One
wonders—might the Grannies be talked into starting a gentlemen’s auxiliary?
Rather the way the Rotarians
have Rotary
Anns?
There is, I
say, nothing new, nothing I haven’t written about; I’m wasting your time here,
Dear Reader. Well, wait—the Huffington Post came out with a story,
entitled “Wisconsin Capitol Arrest Turn Violent as Police Take Down Protester.”
I suppose
this attempt at journalist restraint and “objectivity” should be lauded. Watch
the video below, and then tell me—how would you write that headline?
Damon Terrell was not only attacked by the cops, but spent three days in the jug while the capitol police fiddled with the paperwork. And now, he’s been released; here’s the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on the subject:
Charges
are still possible against Damon Terrell, who was jailed
Monday after a violent arrest interrupted a streak of normally peaceful
anti-Scott Walker singalong protests in the Capitol rotunda.
The
charges recommended by the Department of Administration were felony battery and
resisting arrest in an incident widely caught on camera. Dane
County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said more time was needed at an
initial court appearance to decide on charges.
Don’t know Ozanne, though his grandmother
drank coffee with my mother every Friday morning for about thirty years. And
reports are that he’s not gonna be too interested in spending his limited
resource in prosecuting a guy who was retreating with his hands up before he
was tackled.
Though
there was a felony committed in the rotunda that day.
Ozanne—you
wanna go after 6 thugs in uniform?
Terrell arrest from multiple angles.
